After the Boboli Gardens and the cathedral complex, Florence continues to reopen its museums and monuments after the Covid-19 lockdown.
Uffizi Gallery
The Uffizi gallery will be open from 2-6.30pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and Saturday and Sunday from 9am-6.30pm, (last entrance 5.30pm) to allow for regular sanitization. Other measures include “distance markers” in front of masterpieces and a maximum of 450 people present at any one time in the museum, a reduction of 50% from the previous maximum. Ticket prices remain the same and can be booked online. Visitors will have their temperature checked before entering, face protection is mandatory and social distancing must be maintained.
Palazzo Vecchio, Bardini Museum + Museo Novecento
The Palazzo Vecchio, Bardini Museum and Museo Novecento are set to welcome visitors back on Tuesday, June 2 with an extraordinary opening day for the Italian Republic Day (2-7pm). The three museums will reopen partially during the first weekend in June (June 6-8, 2-7pm). Tickets must be booked and purchased online; the Card del Fiorentino will remain valid, but reservations are necessary. Visitors will have their temperature checked before entering, face protection is mandatory and social distancing must be maintained.
Museo Galileo
Villa Bardini gardens
Young visitors to the Villa Bardini gardens, which reopen with extended hours on June 2 (8.45am-9pm), can enjoy a free snack every weekend in June at the on-site coffee house. Visit as the sun sets and you’ll see the Italian flag projected onto the façade of the villa, which remains closed to the public for now.
Accademia
The Accademia Gallery will also unlock its doors on June 2, with a short “welcome back” speech by director Cecilie Hollberg and mayor Dario Nardella at 11am. Only the main areas of the ground floor will reopen for now, which is reflected in reduced ticket rates (8 euro instead of 12). The gallery is trialling an app, titled The Right Distance, which can be downloaded for free on phones and vibrates using Bluetooth technology as persons approach where you’re standing. Opening hours: 9am-2pm Tuesday to Friday; 9am-6pm Saturday and Sunday; closed Mondays. Booking recommended as visitor numbers are capped to 50.
Cenacolo di Sant’Apollonia
Other gems worth seeing during this strange time in Florence include the Cenacolo di Sant’Apollonia (via XXVII Aprile 1; open for free daily, 8.30am-1.30pm; closed on the first, third and fifth Saturday and Sunday every month), which contains a mesmerizing Last Supper by Andrea del Castagno, dating to 1447, and the Museum of Geology and Palaeontology (via Giorgio La Pira 4; reopening May 30 on Saturdays and Sundays, 9am-5pm; booking required 055 2756444 or edumsn@unifi.it; 3 euro for adults) with its famous Valdarno mammoth and skeleton of a whale that lived in the Tuscan sea three million years ago. Budding astrologers can seek inspiration at the Galileo Museum, whose doors will reopen on May 30, Friday to Monday, 9.30am-6pm, and additional opening hours on June 2, 9.30am-6pm.
Palazzo Strozzi
Tomás Saraceno, “Flying Gardens”, 2020. Installation view of “Aria”, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, 2020. © Photography by Ela Bialkowska, OKNOstudio
If you’re feeling more contemporary, the curious exhibition at Palazzo Strozzi will resume on June 1 and run through November 1. Aria by Tomás Saraceno offers immersive works and participatory experiences that suggest a new way of living in the world by forging connections with non-human phenomena like spiders, dust particles and plants. More details about tickets and opening hours can be found online.
Palazzo Pitti
Palazzo Pitti reopened its impressive doors on May 28 as director Eike Schmidt welcomed back visitors. All the museums housed in the former Medici palace, with the exception, for logistical reasons, of the Treasury of the Grand Dukes and the Porcelain Museum, are open Tuesday to Sunday (closed on Mondays) from 8.30am-1.30pm. Another nature-based exhibition to check out this June is The Immensity of the Universe in the Art of Giovanna Garzoni. Hosted in the Andito degli Angiolini space at Palazzo Pitti, which reopens on May 28, the show encompasses 100 floral compositions, still lives and miniatures by the Baroque, Marche-born painter friend of Artemisia Gentileschi. The show has been curated by Sheila Barker of The Medici Archive Project and the Advancing Women Artists foundation is running a challenge to inspire the creation of contemporary art based on Garzoni’s oeuvre.
Santa Croce
The Basilica of Santa Croce will be open for free weekend visits by prior online reservation until June 22 and will also open on June 2 for Italian Republic Day and June 24 for the feast day of St. John the Baptist, one of Florence’s patron saints. The beloved church will reopen on May 30 with the official Santa Croce app (downloadable for free from Google Play and App Store), which provides in-depth information about the place of worship. Open 11am-5pm on Saturdays and 1-5pm on Sundays; 11am-5pm on June 2 and 24.
Bargello, Palazzo Davanzati + Medici Chapels
Palazzo Davanzati and the Medici Chapels will welcome visitors back on June 2, while we’ll have to wait until August 4 to return to the Bargello due to structural changes. The Beauty and Noble Ornaments in 17th-century Fashion and Furnishings exhibition at Palazzo Davanzati will be extended until June 28. Visitors can download The Right Distance app to ensure social distancing and face protection is required. Visit the website for opening hours.
Uffizi
The Uffizi is scheduled to reopen on June 3.
