Open day of the villas and gardens in Florence 24 May 2026

Those of you who are enthusiasts for the villas and gardens of Tuscany have a great opportunity on Sunday 24 May 2026 to visit a great many of the villas and gardens that are usually closed to the public. Entrance is free. I can't emphasise enough what a wonderful opportunity this is to see some splendid architecture and historical gardens.

Palazzo Corsini and its garden in Florence

Open gardens in the Florence historical centre – opening hours 10 am to 1 pm – 3 pm to 7 pm. Sunday 24 May 2026.

San Francesco di Paola Garden, piazza San Francesco di Paola 3

Giardino Torrigiani, via dei Serragli 144

Palazzo Ricasoli Firidolfi (no reservation required), via Maggio 7

Palazzo Antinori di Brindisi Aldobrandini (no reservation required), via dei Serragli 9

Palazzo Frescobaldi (no reservation required), via Santo Spirito 11

Antica Torre Terrace (Fiesole Music School concert, 11 pm), via Tornabuoni 1

Palazzo Bartolini Salimbeni (no reservation required), piazza Santa Trinita 1

Palazzo Corsini (no reservation required), lungarno Corsini 10

Palazzo Rucellai (no reservation required), via della Vigna Nuova 18

Palazzo Antinori, piazza Antinori 3

Palazzo Gondi, via dei Gondi 2 and piazza San Firenze 1

Antellesi Garden (no reservation required), piazza Santa Croce 21

Fondazione Mello – Le Colonne Art Studio, borgo Pinti 24

Palazzo Leopardi – Marcello Tommasi Art Studio, via della Pergola 57

Palazzo Ximenes Panciatichi (Fiesole Music School concert, 3 pm), Borgo Pinti 68

Palazzo Grifoni Budini Gattai (Fiesole Music School concert, 4 pm), piazza Santissima Annunziata 1

Palazzo Niccolini (Fiesole Music School concert, 12pm, no reservation required), via dei Servi 15

Palazzo Pucci, via de’ Pucci 4

Palazzo Ginori (Fiesole Music School concert, 5 pm), via de’ Ginori 11

Read my post on the Florence open day gardens I visited in 2015. 

Palazzo Antinori in Florence

Don't forget to visit my Tuscany Travel Guide! Up-to-date news on what to see and where to stay in Chianti and all of Tuscany. Tuscany Travel Guide

Holiday accommodations in Chianti

Author: Anna Maria Baldini

All content copyright © ammonet Infotech website promotion 2016 - 2026. All rights reserved.

What you need to know before renting a car in Italy

Today, a few tips on what you need to know before renting a car in Italy.

Firstly, many car rental agencies in Italy leave much to be desired in terms of service, accessibility and opening hours, and some of them are to be avoided at all costs. Waits of up to two hours are not exceptional when picking up and dropping off a car at a popular point such as an airport. Closure for lunch, holidays and at night are standard practice. Be aware that some rental car companies that have a good reputation in the US, for example, are totally separate from companies of the same name in Italy.

Secondly, don't try to save money by using price comparision websites and opting for the cheapest deal. You will surely lose money and a lot of time if you do. Use Avis, Hertz or Europcar or a reputable broker such as Auto Europe even if it appears to cost a bit more. Europcar is probably the largest rental company in Italy and has a good reputation.

Motoring in Tuscany

Auto Europe is an agency that arranges cheap rentals with the major and reputable car rental companies. The UK site is sometimes cheaper than the US one, so check out both www.autoeurope.com and www.auto-europe.co.uk. AutoEurope has a good reputation.

DO NOT confuse Auto Europe with Auto Europa - Sicily by Car which has a very bad reputation.

Auto Europe good, Auto Europa bad.

Rental car agencies in Italy to be AVOIDED at all costs.

● Auto Europa - Sicily by Car has an appalling reputation for sullen service, hours long waits, major overcharging, total lack of response to communications etc. NEVER have anything to do with Auto Europa. All business for Dollar and Thrifty car rental companies in Italy is handled by Auto Europa - therefore AVOID.

Once again: Auto Europe good, Auto Europa bad.

● Goldcar Rental Agency, especially at Pisa Airport, is notorious for hard-selling additional and unnecessary insurance, including not mentioning that the charge is per day not per hire and stating falsely that your own insurance, if any, is invalid. They overcharge for the initial tank of petrol and refuse a refund on remaining petrol when the car is returned. There are also endless reports of other excess charges. Waits can be up to four hours. Their staff are uniformly reported to be rude, aggressive and intimidating. Note that many brokers send customers to this rental car agency without fully explaining their fuel and insurance policy. If a broker offers you a car from Goldcar, refuse it.

● Maggiore Car Rental is another company to be absolutely AVOIDED, especially in Sicily. All the same issues as for Goldcar and more. Maggiore Car Rental has by far the worst reputation of any large car rental company in Italy. They routinely come up with excess charges in the hundreds and will call in the police if you don't pay. Never threaten to dispute a card payment nor give them cash. Work through your card company after the event. DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT RENT FROM MAGGIORE.

● Sixt Holiday Car Rentals is yet another rental car company that should NEVER be used. If a broker sends you to this company, cancel immediately. A Sixt speciality is to send you to a franchise that does not have an available car. Complaints to Sixt elicit the response that their small print says that reservations are NOT confirmed (despite their email titled "Confirmation of your reservation".)!

● Locauto should NEVER be used. If you are sent there through a broker, cancel immediately. They routinely demand a large deposit and then charge for existing damage, they do not check returned vehicles in the presence of the customer and they add damages to the blank check sheet, their insurance makes no provision for the passengers if the car breaks down and so on and on.

 ● Firefly is yet another disastrous hire car company that should NEVER be used. Easycar and Holiday Autos sometimes refer customers to Firefly. Cancel immediately if that happens. Dirty vehicles often with over 100,000 km on the dial, headlights that don't work etc etc. plus charges for an additional driver despite that being included, the usual massive (e.g. 1500 euros) deductions from credit cards without explanation, and so on.

To check carefully: unethical car rental companies pressure their customers to buy additional insurance. This not only costs money unnecessarily but can render your original insurance invalid.

Always insist that you get a finalisation of your rental - that is a receipt that the car has been checked and that signed off as OK and that there is no balance due for car items (damage and petrol). This can take a lot of time but it's worth it. They will not sign off on possible future parking or other road infringements.

IMPORTANT - limited traffic zones (ZTL's).
These are the areas in the historical centres of most Italian cities and towns that are closed during certain hours to traffic other than permit holders. Rental cars do not have these permits. The ZTL's are monitored by traffic cameras and entry by non-permit holders results in a charge to your credit card by the car rental company and a fine from the traffic authorities. Many rental car companies have offices very near these zones so that it's easy to wander into one when driving to or from the car pickup. For this reason, it is highly recommended, in Florence, for example, to use the offices and rental car pickup at the airport rather than those in the centre of town.

Full details about traffic violation in Italy, including ZTL infractions, click here.

Driving in Florence

ALSO IMPORTANT - an International Driving Permit, which is in essence an official translation of your driving licence, is required, in addition to a driver's licence, by everyone who does not hold a driving licence issued by an EU country and who intends to drive in Italy. Note that International Drivers Licences sold over the Internet are all scams, offering worthless pieces of paper at best. You need an International Driving Permit from your national motoring organisation. They're very cheap. Most rental car agencies now ask to see your International Driving Permit in addition to your licence.

If you plan to spend most of your time in a city such as Florence, with just one or two excursions into the countryside, you might find that the additional cost of a car and driver-guide rather than a rental car will be far outweighed by convenience and the efficiency of having a planned sightseeing itinerary.

More about motoring in Tuscany.

More about getting around in Tuscany.

Chianti without a car, including a list of recommended drivers.

www.bella-toscana.com

Author: Anna Maria Baldini

All content copyright © ammonet Italian Web Site Promotion 2013 - 2026. All rights reserved.

The iris garden in Florence is open from April 25 to May 20, 2026.

One of the most pleasing sights in Florence at this time of year is the Iris Garden, located just below Piazza Michelangelo and the Basilica of San Miniato al Monte on the southern heights overlooking Florence. The Iris garden will be open to the public from 25 April 2026 until 20 May 2026.

The Iris Garden of Florence is the only one in Europe dedicated to the iris and it houses over 1500 varieties of the iris, which is, of course, the symbol of Florence.

The garden is managed by the Italian Iris Society and is open to the public for one month a year between April and May, the period of the spring flowering. This year, 2026, the opportunity to stroll through the avenues and hills covered with irises and olive trees will be from 25 April 2026 until 20 May 2026, from 10:00 am to 6:00 PM (with last entry at 5.30 pm).

As always, admission is free, but for those who want it, scheduled guided tours are held every Sunday and on public holidays at 11 am and 4 pm, with a contribution of 5 euros per person.

Don't forget to visit my Tuscany Travel Guide! Up-to-date news on what to see and where to stay in Chianti and all of Tuscany. Tuscany Travel Guide

Author: Anna Maria Baldini

All content copyright © ammonet Italian Web Site Promotion 2021- 2026. All rights reserved.

How to tell real gelato from industrial confection

These days gelato is quite expensive in most towns in Italy - sometimes as much as 7 euros for a big cone or cup. It's therefore important that you buy real gelato, meaning gelato made in-house from fresh fruit and other pure natural ingredients, and not some kind of confection produced in a factory. Here are some tips on what to avoid.

Ignore the word "artigianale" on the signs and labels. This word has no legal standing in Italy so anyone can use it, even for factory produced products vaguely resembling gelato.

Industrial gelato

• Unnatural colours: If the colours are bright, almost fluorescent, you're looking at a confection. Genuine banana gelato is more or less beige, almost grey. It is NOT bright yellow. Lemon sorbet is white. The chocolate gelato should be a deep chocolate colour, not a brownish colour of artificial caramel. Frutti del bosco will have a deep blackberry colour.
  
  
• Mountainscape display: If the gelato is piled up high, it's being held together using emulsifiers and hydrogenated fats, often palm oil. Genuine gelato cannot stand up in heaps, especially whipped up or in heaps of round "scoops". It will lie flat in the container ("pozzetto"). Unless there's a queue of customers, the gelato containers will usually be covered with a metal lid to maintain the correct temperature. The gelato will not be decorated with fruit, biscuits etc.
  
  
• Too many flavours:   Depending on the size and popularity of the gelataria, there will be only between 6 and 10 flavours on any given day. A real gelataio makes a small batch of gelato in the morning, sells what is there and starts again the next day.
  
  
• Out of season fruit: This one is obvious. If the fruit used to make the gelato is fresh, it has to be in season. Bright red strawberry ("fragola") gelato displayed in December is made from strawberry essence and artificial syrup, like those strawberry daiquiris sold in New Orleans.
  
  
• Unnatural names: "Bubblegum" is not a flavour of real gelato. Too many or, in fact, any labels like this scream factory-made confection and suggest that everything on display is composed mostly of artificial ingredients.
  
  
• Ingredients list: Every Italian gelateria is legally obliged to display lists of the ingredients. A short list with milk, cream, sugar, fruit and egg yolks is good. A list including "olio vegetale" and numbered colour codes - "E" this and "E" that, "aromi," and emulsifiers again screams factory-made confection. 

 Real gelato

Try to find a place with a short queue of buyers who look as if they live nearby. That's a sure indicator of the real thing!

Best gelato in Tuscany.

Don't forget to visit my Tuscany Travel Guide! Up-to-date news on what to see and where to stay in Chianti and all of Tuscany. Tuscany Travel Guide

Author: Anna Maria Baldini

All content copyright © ammonet Italian Web Site Promotion 2013 - 2026. All rights reserved.

Stay in Fiesole when you visit Florence

The most popular months to visit Florence are also tend to be hot and unfortunately visitors experience that heat not just while staggering around the sights of Florence, but also when they're trying to sleep. There is a solution. Find your vacation accommodations in Fiesole!

View of Fiesole above Florence

A bit of history. The Etruscans lived where Fiesole is now - they called it Vipsul - in large part because they were hedonists who enjoyed the good life, especially cool breezes during mid-summer. The Romans were made of sterner stuff. They built their colony down below in the stifling Arno valley where they could tax north-south traffic that crossed the river over the bridge they built there. This was Florentia, founded around 59 BC, most likely under Julius Caesar, to settle veterans in the Arno valley. Needless to say, the better classes of Roman society migrated to their country houses up in Fiesole during summer. They even built themselves a nice theatre up there.

Roman theatre in Fiesole.

You should consider a stay in Fiesole when you visit Florence. Forget the humid heat at midnight, forget the tour group on the doorstep at 7am, forget the queue at your favorite restaurant, forget a street full of drunk twenty-year-olds below the window until 2am. Instead, after a cool, quiet night of sleep, you walk out of your hotel or B&B and onto a quiet piazza where old men are playing cards outside the bar.  A three-star hotel in Fiesole with a view over Florence costs what a two-star in the centro storico of Florence costs without the view. An agriturismo on the slopes between Fiesole and the city often costs less than a standard hotel room in the historic centre of Florence. From the terrace behind the Fiesole cathedral, Florence unfolds below - the Duomo, the Campanile, the Arno, the hills on the far side.

 View of Florence from Fiesole

What about getting from Fiesole to Florence and back? 

Don't take your car, if you have one. You don't need to grapple with traffic, one way streets and ZTLs. Take the line 7 bus from Piazza Mino in Fiesole to Ponte Rosso and then take the T2 tram to Piazza San Marco in central Florence. Buy a single ATAF ticket from the ticket-dispensing machine (cash or touch your credit card to the machine) or from any tabaccheria before you board, or a day pass if you plan to come and go twice. Don't forget to validate your ticket as you enter the bus. Sit on the left side going down for the view. You can even walk down, starting on Via Vecchia Fiesolana, all the way to Florence in about 90 minutes. The fastest way to get from Fiesole to Florence is to taxi which takes 13 min and costs €12 - €15.

Note that I don't recommend that you try to return to Fiesole on foot! The line 7 bus from Ponte Rosso to Fiesole Piazza Mino takes 18 min and departs every 20 minutes.

 Tuscany Quintessence eBike tour of Fiesole from Florence

HOWEVER I can and do highly recommend the Tuscany Quintessence eBike guided tour from Florence to Fiesole and back.

More about the Tuscany Quintessence eBike tour of Fiesole from Florence.

What to see and do in Fiesole.

Don't forget to visit my Tuscany Travel Guide! Up-to-date news on what to see and where to stay in Chianti and all of Tuscany. Tuscany Travel Guide

Author: Anna Maria Baldini

All content copyright © ammonet Italian Web Site Promotion 2013 - 2026. All rights reserved.

Upcoming Chianti wine festivals

The Chianti Classico wine zone of Tuscany is the home to several really good wine festivals where you can taste a wide range of Chianti Classico wines and talk directly to the producers. On 23 and 24 May 2026, in the attractive village of Radda in Chianti there is a wine tasting event, Radda nel Bichiere, taking place that is well worth a visit if you are in the area. A bit later in the year, on the first weekend of June (6th and 7th) 2026, there is another wine festival taking place in Lamole in Chianti, I Profumi di Lamole. And the Chianti wine festival takes place in Montespertoli from 30 May to 7 June 2026. To take in some or all of these wine tasting occasions, you could find a place to stay on the Panzano in Chianti website.and for the Montespertoli Chianti wine festival on the Montespertoli website.

At Radda nel Bichiere

For September 2026, there are two upcoming Chianti wine festivals to note in your agenda.

Chronologically, the first is the Chianti Classico wine fair taking place in Greve in Chianti, 45-60 minutes south of Florence and reachable by bus from Florence. The official name is the Il Rassegna del Chianti Classico (54th Expo of Chianti Classico wines). In 2026, this wine festival takes place from the 10th to the 13th September 2026 in Piazza Matteotti, the main piazza of Greve in Chianti. Note that you might have to park some distance from the venue due to heavy traffic - this fair is very popular. If you also plan to drink some wine, that's just one more reason to take the bus.

The Terre di Melazzano booth at the Rassegna del Chianti Classico

 

The way it works is that you buy a wine glass from the Cassa and Informazioni booth and this allows you to try a certain number of the wines displayed. You can both buy and order wine and olive oil at the booths. In addition to the wine tasting, a variety of events is offered during the four days, but I wouldn't over-estimate their intrinsic interest. Click here for the 2026 programme. The Greve Chianti wine fair has a good number of Tuscan wineries represented, each offering all of the wines that they produce - mainly Chianti Classico, of course. My only objection to this fair is that when the weather is hot, few of the exhibitors take any steps to keep their wines cool. Some of them are left in direct sunlight and are distinctly warm when you taste them.

The second wine tasting event is Vino al Vino, taking place one week later in Panzano in Chianti, 10 minutes drive in the direction of Sienna from Greve and also accessible by bus from Florence. Vino al Vino takes place from 17 to the 20 of September 2026. To some extent, I prefer Vino al Vino over the Chianti Classico Expo if only because it is smaller, with about 21 wineries presenting their wines and olive oil, and has a more intimate atmosphere. I also find the food on sale better than in Greve. There's live Jazz on Saturday & Sunday from 6 until 8 pm.

Vino al Vino Panzano Chianti wine festival

For accommodation nearby the venues:

Greve in Chianti accommodation.

Panzano in Chianti accommodation.

Villa hotels.

Chianti wine festivals on Facebook.

Don't forget to visit my Tuscany Travel Guide! Up-to-date news on what to see and where to stay in Chianti and all of Tuscany. Tuscany Travel Guide

Author: Anna Maria Baldini

All content copyright © ammonet Italian Web Site Promotion 2013 - 2026. All rights reserved.

Tuscan wine tours - wine tasting in Tuscany at its best

Yesterday and today there was torrential rain in Florence and throughout Tuscany. Luckily, we had a clear evening in Greve on Thursday for the long-table dinner for the "rione" of Montefioralle and the "rione" of San Francesco. Food was average, wine was good, company was great. There were tickets available up until only a couple of hours before 8 pm when we started, so when you're visiting a Tuscan town, look for hand-written notices pasted up around the place and referring to "rione" and "cena". If you see one and don't read Italian, ask in a nearby shop for the details. The dinner with wine and spumante cost 15 euros.

Today, I took a group on wine tour with Angela Saltafuori of Tuscan Wine Tours. Both I and my friends were extremely pleased with this wine tasting tour. I've been on her tours before but this one was new with tastings in San Casciano. My strongest recommendation goes to Angie and her minibus wine tours.

Angie (centre) conducting one of her wine tours

More about wine tasting tours in Tuscany. 

Don't forget to visit my Tuscany Travel Guide! Up-to-date news on what to see and where to stay in Chianti and all of Tuscany. Tuscany Travel Guide

Author: Anna Maria Baldini

All content copyright © ammonet Italian Web Site Promotion 2013 - 2026. All rights reserved.

Chianti wine festival at Montespertoli 2026

The Chianti wine festival at Montespertoli is coming up (30 May - 7 June 2026) and as usual it will be an entertaining occasion with a procession of locals dressed up in 19th century costumes and, of course, lots of wine to taste. This wine festival is unusual in the number of street musicians and costumed bands who, along with Tuscan flag throwers and street actors, turn out to provide entertainment. In this respect the Montespertoli Chianti wine festival is superior to the Rassegna del Chianti Classico wine festival held later in the year in Greve in Chianti. The Greve festival has plenty of excellent wine available to try and buy but the entertainment is quite feeble in comparison with that of the Montespertoli event, especially in the evenings.

Chianti wines ready for tasting at Montespertoli

The important difference between the Greve and Montespertoli Chianti wine festivals is that they present wines from different wine zones of the Chianti appellation. The Montespertoli festival covers Chianti, Chianti Montespertoli and Chianti Colli Fiorentini while the Greve festival is devoted to Chianti Classico.

Wagon loaded with Chianti fiasci pulled by Chianina oxen at the Montespertoli Chianti wine festival

Montespertoli is within easy reach of Florence by public transport and there are some excellent agriturismi vacation accommodations in the area

More about Montespertoli.

More about the Greve in Chianti wine festival.

Calendar of events in Tuscany.

Important festivals of Tuscany.

Don't forget to visit my Tuscany Travel Guide! Up-to-date news on what to see and where to stay in Chianti and all of Tuscany. Tuscany Travel Guide

Holiday accommodations in Chianti 

Author: Anna Maria Baldini

All content copyright © ammonet Infotech website promotion 2015 - 2022. All rights reserved.

A preliminary drawing and a final painting by Filippo Lippi in Florence

I want to present here an example of how a bit of enjoyable homework can help art-lovers gain some extra insight into how a masterpieces were created by Renaissance artists. Before a recent visit to the Palatine Gallery at Palazzo Pitti in Florence, I was idly looking through a book of Renaissance drawings held in the Gabinetto dei Disegni e delle Stampe at the Uffizi Gallery. Among them was a very delicate, three quarters sketch of a female head, surely intended to be a Madonna, depicting an absorbed and very sweet expression, and, among other features, a refined hairstyle embellished with veils. At the same time, I had a look at a catalogue of the holdings at the Palatine Gallery, and - lo and behold! - the Madonna in the wonderful Tondo Bartolini turned out to be the final version of the Uffizi sketch.

Both the preliminary drawing and the final painting are by Filippo Lippi. The Tondo has long been thought to have been commissioned from Filippo, who was Carmelite friar, by the ambitious and wealthy Florentine merchant, Leonardo di Bartolomeo Bartolini. More recent investigation by Jeffrey Ruda interprets the coat of arms on the reverse of the Tondo as that of a member of the Martelli family and re-dates the painting to between 1465 and 1470 based on similarities to Filippo's final frescoes in the Capella Maggiore at Prato Cathedral.

By looking at a good reproduction of the drawing, one can see that Filippo used first a silver point on paper prepared with a warm, yellow ochre ground, and then refined the silver point outline with thin and light lines of white lead applied with a brush, giving the physiognomy and hairstyle a lovely softness.

The preliminary sketch matches the painted figure down to the most minute folds of the cap and in the ribbon that holds and twists the hair at the top under the veil. One can also see that Filippo was experimenting on the ochre paper with the effects of the light coming from the left, by applying a white wash. 

However, my aim here is not to argue the fine details of art history and connoisseurship, but rather to encourage visitors to Florence who plan to tour the galleries, to spend some time with some art books as a preparation to seeing the works themselves. You never can tell what serendipitous insights will strike you!

Don't forget to visit my Tuscany Travel Guide! Up-to-date news on what to see and where to stay in Chianti and all of Tuscany. Tuscany Travel Guide

Author: Anna Maria Baldini

All content copyright © ammonet Italian Web Site Promotion 2021 - 2026. All rights reserved.

The newly renovated Vasari Corridor is opened to all

The newly renovated Vasari Corridor opened to all in May 2024. As my always intelligent and attentive readers will know, access to the Vasari Corridor, which runs from the Palazzo Vecchio, via the Uffici Galleries and over the Ponte Vecchio, to the Pitti Palace in Florence, has always been problematic. The renovated Vasari Corridor re-opened 450 years after the death of its creators: the Grand Duke Cosimo I dei Medici, who commissioned the Corridor on the occasion of the wedding of his son Francesco I and who passed away on 21 April 1574, and Giorgio Vasari, who designed and built it and who died on 27 June 1574, just two months after Cosimo I.

Entry to the renovated Vasari Corridor is available to everyone who has a ticket to enter the Uffizi Galleries and who has paid the Corridor visit supplement. Pre-booking a time slot and prepaying the supplement to access the Corridor is highly recommended. Visitors are grouped (groups of 25 persons) by time of entry and accompanied by two Uffizi staff members. You cannot leave the group nor linger long in the Corridor.

I am no longer enthusiastic about paying the extra to walk through the Vasari Corridor. The corridor is one-way. You enter from inside the Uffizi, walk over Ponte Vecchio through a 760 m hallway and exit at the Pitti Palace courtyard. You cannot walk back to the Uffizi through the corridor. You cannot retrieve anything from the Uffizi cloakroom. The museum is closed to you for the day. In addition, your Uffizi entry is locked to 2 hours before your corridor slot. Not earlier. The Uffizi needs 3 to 5 hours to explore thoroughly. This ticket caps you at 2 hours. You will rush the Botticelli rooms, skip the Caravaggios, and end the visit staring at your watch.
And what do you get for all this. A hallway. The famous self-portrait collection that made the corridor interesting is gone. 

The renovated Vasari Corridor

The ready accessibility of the corridor is very positive but I have to admit to feeling a bit sad about the relocation of the largest, oldest and most important collection of self-portraits in the world, which used to line the walls of the Corridor towards the Pitti Palace end. This collection, which was admirably displayed in the Corridor and directly linked to the creators of the Corridor, has been transferred to the Uffizi Galleries. The self-portraits have been replaced in the Corridor by a series of Roman epigraphs related to the Florence founded by Julius Caesar in 59 BC, and later becoming the capital of the VI Roman Legio that included Tuscany and Umbria. Obviously, these marble plaques are nowhere near as fragile as the paintings, so I suppose this is the price we must pay for free access to the Vasari Corridor.

 

The Vasari Corridor before renovation.

This, of course, is by no means the first time the Vasari Corridor has been renovated. Up until the late 19 C, there were artisanal workshops built into the arches supporting the Corridor between the Uffizi and the Ponte Vecchio. Those were removed during the 1880's.

View of the Vasari Corridor in the 1880's with workshops still in place.

For full official details for visits to the Vasari Corridor, click here.

More about the Vasari Corridor.

Don't forget to visit my Tuscany Travel Guide! Up-to-date news on what to see and where to stay in Chianti and all of Tuscany. Tuscany Travel Guide

Author: Anna Maria Baldini

All content copyright © ammonet Italian Web Site Promotion 2026. All rights reserved.

"Il Magnifico 1492" - a fabulous exhibition promised for Autumn 2026 at the Uffizi Galleries in Florence

Start planning now! The Uffizi have announced that they are putting together an exhibition for Autumn 2026 that will reconstruct part of the unequalled art collection assembled by Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici (1449-1492), "il Magnifico", as it was in the year of his death in 1492.

Portrait of Lorenzo il Magnifico by Vasari

More than a hundred works borrowed from around the world will form a reconstruction of some of Lorenzo's collection - the collection that helped earn him the description "Il Magnifico" - once housed in the Medici family palazzo in Via Larga, Florence - now the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi. The exhibition is based on the description and inventory prepared in 1492, shortly after Lorenzo's death. The Uffizi promises us a selection of paintings and sculptures, including several famous masterpieces, as well as vases, gems, cameos, coins, codices, and maps, reflecting the interests and curiosity that were among the characteristic traits of the Medici family that ruled Florence and Tuscany between the 15 C and the 17 C.

Bronze medal of depicting Lorenzo il Magnifico

Lorenzo was a shrewd and capable politician and diplomat, and a fervent promoter of the arts, literature and philosophy, himself a poet and prolific letter writer, defining the very concept of patronage. He surrounded himself with some of the most brilliant intellectuals of his time, including Angelo Poliziano, Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, as well as supporting artists such as Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Verrocchio and Michelangelo, transforming Florence into the undisputed capital of the Renaissance.

Don't miss this exhibition if you will be anywhere near Florence during Autumn 2026!

More about the Medici family.

  

Don't forget to visit my Tuscany Travel Guide! Up-to-date news on what to see and where to stay in Chianti and all of Tuscany. Tuscany Travel Guide

Author: Anna Maria Baldini

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Poppies in Tuscany

Be sure to include the beautiful Val d'Orcia in your Tuscany vacation itinerary!

When do the poppies appear in the Val d'Orcia of Tuscany?

Don't forget to visit my Tuscany Travel Guide! Up-to-date news on what to see and where to stay in Chianti and all of Tuscany. Tuscany Travel Guide

Author: Anna Maria Baldini

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Tuscany by bike: self-guided bicycling and ebike tours in Tuscany

Today I have a few tips on a subject very popular with Tuscans as well as tourists, namely, Tuscany by bike: self-guided bicycling and ebike tours in Tuscany. Cycling for pleasure and fitness is extremely popular in Tuscany, as it is throughout Italy, despite (or perhaps because of) Tuscany being on the whole very hilly. The network of lightly-travelled country roads passing through very scenic areas from one picturesque sight to another makes it a real pleasure to get around Tuscany by bike. The idea is NOT to ride within or through the outskirts of the major cities, notably Florence. Unless local experts advise otherwise, put your bike in the baggage space under a bus and start your ride from out in the country.

Cycling through the Tuscan countryside - pure joy!

Because cycling as a sport is so popular in Tuscany, there are numerous excellent bike route books available. Some are published by bicycling clubs and others by individual enthusiasts. The routes described as well as the quality of the maps have to be taken into account when choosing your cycling atlas. After you've done a bit if research, it will become evident which are the classic rides. These latter are the ones for a first time visitor to Tuscany to stick with.

My recommendation is to buy one or more bicycle route books well before you depart for your vacation so that you can plan your itinerary and accommodation around the routes rather than vice versa. For example, one of the classic bike rides is from Florence to Sienna and back, along the Via Chiantigiana. Florentines start off from wherever they live in Florence but they have the experience on how to avoid or at least deal with traffic. Newcomers should either take the SITA bus out of Florence or plan to stay in the country and join the cycling routes near where they are staying.

All set to go! Tuscany by bike.

There are several guided bicycle and e-bike tours of Tuscany offered on the internet. These have the advantage of providing the bikes, a support vehicle and accommodation booked along the routes, plus, of course, the planning of the route itself. Some are accompanied by a guide while other provide a route plan and are effectively self-guided. Personally, I don't think it's necessary to lock oneself into an organised tour, guided or self-guided. Armed with a good route book, you can easily choose a base and nearby routes. On the other hand, if the organised tour provides the bicycles, you could well save a lot of time unless you are experienced at shipping your own bike. This applies especially to e-bikes (electrically-assisted bicycles).

All set to win the Eroica!

One of the best e-bike guided tour companies is Tuscany Quintessence. They offer a range of tours, from easy, through moderately strenuous to challenging, lasting from one day to as long as seven days. The company is extremely well-organised and for multi-day tours they arrange for your accommodation along the route, meals, extra baggage transport and so on. They have also obviously given considerable thought to the variety of their tours. Some are located in the "big sky" country of the Val d'Orcia, including the Crete Senesi area, and also in Chianti and around the cities of Lucca and Florence (Fiesole).

Tuscany Quintessence e-bike tour in Tuscany

Click here for full information on Tuscany Quintessence guided electric bicycle tours in Tuscany.

I have reviewed a selection of cycling atlases of Italy and Tuscany here.

Today's top links: For everything you need to know about what to do and where to stay in Tuscany: The Chianti Travel Guide and The Greve in Chianti Tuscany Blog.

Author: Anna Maria Baldini

Don't forget to visit Elena Spolaor's Travel Guide! Up-to-date news on what to see and where to stay in Chianti and all of Tuscany & Umbria. Chianti Travel Guide

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