Some 2026 changes important to tourists visiting Florence

Here, very briefly, are some 2026 changes in various rules which are important to tourists (and inhabitants) in Florence.

Personalised museum tickets in Florence

Tickets for the Uffizi galleries now have your name on them. In other words, they are personalised and cannot be used by anyone else. Since October 13, 2025, every Uffizi ticket is personalised. The name on the ticket has to match the photo ID you use as you enter the museum. If they do not match, you do not get in, and the ticket is not refunded.

The same rule applies to the Accademia, the Bargello, and most other Florence state museums. Name on the ticket equals name on the ID, or no entry.

It's also important to note that at the Uffizi and the Accademia, the time on your ticket is when you must be inside, not when you arrive at the door. If you're ten minutes late your slot can be and usually is gone. The best thing to do is to arrive 30 minutes before your time slot.

Each online account can buy a maximum of 10 Uffizi tickets per day, with a separate cap of 5 for the Vasari Corridor.

There is also a new afternoon discount. Since 1 January, 2026, tickets for entry into the Uffizi after 4 pm cost €20 online or €16 at the door, instead of the standard €25. You get the same access to all collections, just a shorter window before the 6:30 closing.

Big reduction in outdoor restaurant seating in the historical centre of Florence 

Florence has banned outdoor dining on 50 streets and banned e-scooter rentals across the historical centre of Florence. The areas around the Ponte Vecchio, the Piazzale degli Uffizi, Via Roma, Via Maggio, Via Romana, Borgo Santa Croce and the Piazza di Santa Maria Nuova are all on the list of locations where outdoor restaurant seating is prohibited. On another 73 streets, outdoor seating is allowed only under tighter rules, with no plastic sheeting, no canvas awnings, no semi-permanent structures, no bright signs.

From April 2026, Florence has banned e-scooter rentals across the city centre. The orange and yellow scooters that lined the Arno last summer are gone. Few can genuinely regret this.

The Baptistry mosaics are not visible until further notice.

One of the most spectacular art treasures of Florence are the ceiling mosaics of the Baptistry.  However, currently although the Baptistery of San Giovanni is open, the famous mosaics of the vault are not visible because of major restoration work. The official notice says the restoration and internal work will continue for the next few years. 

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.

 

Exhibition in Florence dedicated to Verrocchio at the Palazzo Strozzi and the Bargello

A fabulous exhibition in Florence dedicated to Verrocchio at the Palazzo Strozzi and the Bargello joins the list of unmissable art shows hosted by the Palazzo Strozzi over the years.

From 9 March to 14 July 2019, over 120 paintings, sculptures and drawings from art galleries and museums in a number of countries is on display. They include wonderful works by Verrocchio, the teacher of Leonardo da Vinci, as well as works by the best-known artists associated with his workshop in the second half of the 15 C, among them Domenico Ghirlandaio, Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino and Leonardo da Vinci, his most famous apprentice. The curators have attempted to illustrate Leonardo’s early artistic career and interaction with Verrocchio by juxtapositions.

Verrocchio's Dama del Mazzolino, viewed from behind, in the Bargello.

Verrocchio was born in Florence ca. 1435 to Michele di Francesco Cioni, a tile and brick maker, and later a tax collector. Little is known about his life but he was initally apprenticed to a goldsmith. There is no real evidence that he was later apprenticed to Donatello and verylittle evidence that he trained as a painter under Fra Filippo Lippi. His main works are dated in his last twenty years and his advancement owed much to the patronage of Lorenzo de' Medici and his son Piero. His workshop was in Florence where he was a member of the Guild of St Luke. Several great artists including Leonardo da Vinci and Lorenzo di Credi passed through his workshop as apprentices, and artists such as Domenico Ghirlandaio, Francesco Botticini and Pietro Perugino probably worked in some kind of association with Verrocchio. Their early works can be hard to distinguish those of Verrocchio. At the end of his life, he opened a new workshop in Venice where he was working on the statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni, leaving the Florentine workshop in charge of Lorenzo di Credi. He died in Venice in 1488.

The Baptism of Christ by Verrocchio - the angel to the lower left is very likely by Leonardo.

The exhibition is part of the programme of celebrations marking the 500th anniversary of Leonardo’s death and is the first retrospective ever devoted to Verrocchi. Don't miss it!

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 2019. All rights reserved.

Bargello Museum cocktail evenings 2012

The Aperitivo ad Arte that has been taking place at the Uffizi throughout the summer of 2012 on Thursday evenings pauses during August, and is replaced by similar opportunity at the Bargello Museum in Florence.

The first night of "Cocktails For Art" at the Bargello will take place on Wednesday 1 August, from 7 pm onwards with cocktails and graniti available. It will then continue every Tuesday evening during the months of August, September and until 9 October.

You can visit the Hall of Michelangelo and the Florentine Renaissance - which also houses many works of other great artists such as Giambologna, Cellini, Ammannati, Danti and Bandinelli - as well as the majolica exhibition "Fabulae Pictae. Myths and stories in the Renaissance majolica". As always, you can enjoy an aperitif in one of the most beautiful art museums in Florence.

Entrance costs 12 euros and it is advisable to book by phoning: 055 29 48 83.

By the way, the OFFICIAL website for the Bargello, the Uffizi and other museums in Florence is: http://www.polomuseale.firenze.it/en/

And the OFFICIAL website for buying tickets is: www.b-ticket.com/b-ticket/Uffizi/default.aspx

There are a number of other websites with official-sounding names and domain names that are agencies charging exorbitant prices for tickets, reservations and other services.

Author: Anna Maria Baldini

All content copyright © ammonet Website Promotion 2012. All rights reserved.

Exhibition of Renaissance Majolica at the Bargello, Florence

For everyone interested in painted ceramics, there is a fabulous exhibition of Renaissance majolica at the Bargello, Florence, until 16 September, 2012.

Towards the end of the Dark Ages, earthenware was popularly thought to carry the plague and was consequently destroyed in huge quantities during the Black Death in Italy, up until the the early 15 C. Perhaps this loss of earlier work contributed to the resurgence and originality of  "Majolica", tin-glazed painted pottery, during the Renaissance, when it became enormously popular and of high artistic quality. The Medici collected hundreds of pieces, many of which are now housed in the Bargello Museum. These masterpieces, plus many beautiful examples from other museums throughout the world, form the basis of this exhibition - "Fabulae Pictae: Myths and Stories in Renaissance Majolica".

Majolica was a product mostly of smaller centres. Florence itself had a comparatively small production, most of it made in Montelupo Fiorentino (still a centre of painted ceramic production) and Faenza, across the border in Emilia-Romagna. More was imported from Deruta but the finest pieces came from Urbino, where the court took practical steps to promote majolica production.

This exhibition displays some of the sources of Renaissance majolica subject matter in the form of woodcuts, engravings, drawings, medals, placquettes and bronzes, adjacent to the majolica pieces themselves. This is a huge help for some present day visitors who might not be as familiar with Ovid's "Metamorphoses" or, for that matter, the Bible, as were the original owners of these objects.

Over the years, there have been numerous excellent exhibitions of Renaissance majolica in Italy - this exhibition stands among the best of them.

More about Deruta.

More about Montelupo Fiorentino.

More about Urbino.

Author: Anna Maria Baldini
 

The best website about Chianti, Italy

Places to stay in Chianti - villas, farmhouses, B&B rooms

All content copyright © www.ammonet.com 2012. All rights reserved.