One of the most helpful pices of advice we received from this forum before our recent trip to Florence was about Amici degli Uffizi membership.

We found the 100 euro cost for a couple to be well worthwhile, especially since it gave us the freedom to make several short visits to the Uffizi, and so enabled us to enjoy the pictures and sculptures in a relatively relaxed frame of mind. Otherwise I'm sure we would have been tempted to try to "do" the whole gallery in one day. Similarly we felt free to see the different museums in the Pitti Palace on separate visits, and thus for example we were able to give the Arte Moderna gallery the attention it deserved.

We were also able to by-pass the long queue at the Accademia.

However, we thought it might be helpful to offer some words of advice for people interested in
buying the cards ...

Firstly, you need to carry your passport or some other form of photo ID as well as the Amici card whwnever you want to use it. This floored us the first time we went to the Uffizi because our campsite had our passports!

Don't expect to be able to pop into the Uffizi for a few minutes at a time. You still need to go through all the ticket-buying and security check hassle each time you visit each museum. This meant, for example, that on our last visit to the Uffizi it took us nearly half an hour to get in. Although we were able to go to the front of the queue outside the building, we still had to wait a minute or two for an official to check our ID and allow us into the line, then wait 5 or 10 minutes for the very slow security check, then buy our tickets (again showing our ID), then wait at least ten minutes in a very crowded hall before we were allowed to pass through the ticket counting machine, then wait a minute or two at the top of the stairs before our tickets were checked again and we were finally allowed into the gallery. This was all at the end of March, before the Easter influx! (This experience made us appreciate fully how wonderfully civilised are places such as the National Gallery in London which allow free admission.)

The membership does not last 365 days as you might expect, but until the end of the calendar year. If you expect to make repeat visits to Florence this makes the membership better value if you can purchase it near the beginning of the year.

Don't forget all the other places for which you have free admission. Not only the Medici chapels, San Marco, the Bargello and so on in Florence but also several Medici villas and gardens near Florence. We went to the two delightful villas at Castello, namely the garden of Villa Castello and the villa and gardens of Villa Petraia. Both were practically deserted when we visited at the beginning of April so we had a private tour by a charming guide of the inside of Villa Petraia.

I hope these comments help.

Hugh

What an excellent suggestion. Indeed, whether staying in Florence itself, or making several trips in during an extended stay, it's a fine value...not mention encouraging visits to venues that otherwise might not be considered. And if you were lucky enough to come multiple times a year? A goldmine!

Thanks so much for passing this along once again.