Florence museum tickets for kids

Tickets are free for children under age 18 at Italian State museums but you still pay the reservation fee if booking tickets in advance so yes, include them when ordering. This is the official website for the Uffizi, Academia and other State museums:

https://www.polomuseale.firenze.it/en/musei/tutti.php

Free entry may not apply to attractions outside of the State museum system. For instance, there's a reduced fee of €4,00 for children 11-17 at the church of Santa Croce (€ 6,00 for adults; free for under age 11).

In all cases you'll need to be able to prove your children's ages for free or reduced tickets so have their passports handy. The Uffizi and Academia are really the only two you'll encounter long enough lines at to warrant advance reservations.

Note: The Vasari Corridor is included in the group of museums in the website above but tickets can't be ordered through that site.

You will still need tickets even though they are free. This is the only way they can keep track of attendance levels. You can book the free tickets online but you'll need to show proof of age when picking them up. Be sure to have your passports with you at all times.

Donna

Make sure you have your passports just in case but we have have never once in Italy been asked to produce them for our kids when collecting or buying tickets.

They will ask for passports if your child is older and might be 18 or over. Younger kids won't be asked for passports but you must carry them with you anyway.

Donna

HI there. Do you think a photo copy of my kids passport will work instead of the real thing? I worry about theft especially when we are in Rome.
Thanks
Julie

Julie, as a non-EU citizen you are required by Italian law to carry your passport with you at all times. In this day of extra security checks it is even more important to do this. You can be stopped on the street randomly and asked for your identification and if you don't have it they can hold you at the police station until it can be produced.

Take the original with you and leave a copy in your bags. Passports are not the big theft item they once were. Just use a money belt of secure bag when out and about and you won't have any issues.

donna

The carry a passport argument is endless and people have to make their own choices.

If kids are not older teens they won't be asked for age related ID; those at risk of being questions are 16 or 17 years old and look older. If they asked are a copy of the passport will almost always be fine. We always carry our passport card, a copy of our passport and have never once in over 55 years of travel been stopped randomly on the street and asked for our papers. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone that has actually happened to since the most recent terrorism?

My view is that in western Europe the greatest risk is losing the passport and having the expense and aggravation of getting a new one. I have sat in the US Embassy in Paris surrounded by people who had missed planes or were hysterical about having lost their passports or having had them stolen. It costs money and a chunk of your valuable vacation time to deal with and may result in lost airline flights or reservations when you are delayed. I don't know if this is still an issue in the age of computerization but a friend of mine years ago had her passport stolen in Amsterdam and for the next ten years was hassled at the US border every time she entered because her name/passport were on a list as possibly fraudulent. She traveled internationally a lot and it was a real problem for her.

If I am having police demand my papers my biggest problem is not going to be the need to fetch the original from the hotel safe or apartment. If you do feel you must carry one at all times or don't have a secure place to leave it, then a money belt under the clothes is the safe way to do it. The only times you will have to show it are in banking, buying cell phone plans, or for VAT and every store we have ever shopped at this level in has had no trouble with the passport copy -- they just need the number. Banks and cell phone stores will need the original.