Free Admission to Museums in Florence

Assuming the Uffizi is one place you intend to go, I would contact them ---https://www.uffizi.it/en/contacts--- to see if a US handicap placard suffices

From their website ---Persons with disabilities are entitled by law to free priority access to all State Museums of Florence for themselves and for a companion (only if specified in their certificate);

Do the same for any other museum you plan to visit

Hi Kregg,

Other museums may be better to navigate. Just google the official website of the museum you are interested in. Or, you can always use the "search box" at the top of the forum page, plug in key words and threads discussing the topic will pop up.

Of course, it is advisable to contact the Uffizi museum directly.

Try these direct links:

https://www.uffizi.it/en/pages/accessibility
https://www.uffizi.it/en/pages/rules-to-visit-the-uffizi-galleries

Depending on your disability, please read through this: https://www.uffizi.it/en/pages/uffizi-galleries-accessibility-information

Maybe you can get a letter from your doctor to carry with you in addition to taking your placard.

Read some of the Trip Advisor reviews too: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g187895-d191153-Reviews-Uffizi_Galleries-Florence_Tuscany.html - Some had complaints there was only one bathroom with five stalls for the museum. Not sure if that's totally accurate for such a large museum.

Here is an older thread regarding similar to your question: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/disabled-pricing-of-museum-tickets-for-florence

eta

In January 2018, the elevators in the Uffizi were working fine, so my travel companion with a "bum knee" (his words!) was able to easily take the elevator up to the top (main floor), once we passed through the front lobby and ticket-taker. That elevator is in a small side-room, BEFORE you approach the large stairwell. Just walk up to the elevator and use it. No one has ever approached me (I've done this more than once) to ask if I or my travel companion had a physical need to use this elevator. After you get to the top and make the U-shaped circuit of the top (main) floor, you will need to walk up several steps into the cafe area. (There IS a stair lift, there, for wheel chairs, but you will need to hunt around for a staff member to see if it is functioning, if you need it.) After you walk into the front foyer of the cafe area, immediately turn left towards some stairs. There is an elevator in that large stairwell. It's a public elevator, with no one policing its use. Halfway down the stairwell (probably one stop on the elevator) is a floor with large new (in last 20 years) bathrooms. Plenty of stalls. One more flight (one more elevator stop) down is the ground level floor with another full set of gallery rooms, also laid out in a "U". At the end of that U, you will walk through the gift shop/book shop (of course) and then there is a sloping exit ramp outdoors.

Regarding using your handicap placards for admittance: you will DEFINITELY want to purchase timed-entry tickets before your arrival, so that you don't stand in the "general admittance" line for HOURS. So the second part of your question will need to be: can I use my handicap placards for free admittance during my "purchase" of timed-entry tickets? This may be a much more difficult question to answer.

Kregg,

Good reason to directly contact any museum you wish to visit for the most accurate information. Sometimes, reviews and recollections can be clouded.