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Next stop Siena and Florence

We will arrive in Siena on a Friday (October 17th) for 3 nights. We have Rick Steves book so we do plan on seeing the town in the evening. He also notes that you can see most of the major sites in half a day. We will not have a car but we would like to partake in some wine tasting. So the first 2 questions:

1) Has anyone done any of the wine tours with the Tuscany Wine School? Or is there another Wine tour you could recommend? I undestand we can take a day tour or a two hour tasting at the School in Siena. We prefer to do a tasting with a group (i.e not a private tour for just the 2 of us)
2) Has anyone done any bike tours (does not have to include wine)? Either with a guide or just renting a bike for a few hours?

We will go from Siena to Florence for 2 nights. We will arrive in Florence on a Monday (I know most of the major sites will be closed). On Tuesday we plan on going to the Accademia and the Uffizi Gallery. We will make reservations ahead of time and will do an audio tour (no tour guides). In Rick Steves book he states that most tourist spend about 2 hours in the Uffizi...I know this is all subjective. I understand that the Accademia is not very large and "David" is the main attraction. So my next 2 questions are:

3) Would 2 hours be long enough in the Accademia?
4) We plan on doing one museum in the morning and one in the afternoon (If reservations work out). Should we go as early as possible to one and as late as possible to the other to avoid crowds? Would it matter which one we scheduled in the morning? afternoon?

Thank you in advance for your time!

Posted by
17146 posts

You're right: this is a very subjective question.
We did the Uffizi first, and spent at least 5 hours there (not including a small break on the rooftop cafe). I am, however, a huge fan of art so…

We did the Accademia on a different morning and maybe spent an hour to and hour and 1/2.

Honestly? There is no good way to "avoid" crowds if you're traveling during high/shoulder season. Going to the Accademia with a Friends Of The Uffizi pass got us into the Accademia maybe 15 minutes before the general public, and a few minutes of relative peace with "David" but I'm not sure that's always the case. "David", btw, is only one of the best pieces there but the one that is always mobbed as, well, that's the only one most visitors know anything about.

The Accedemia is a lot smaller than the Uffizi so I might put the bigger Uffizi first, and then see whatever your stamina allows for the Accademia afterwards? If all you wish to see is "David" then 20 minutes will do ya.

What a shame that you only have 1 day for Florence as there's so many other delicious things to see!

Posted by
239 posts

Kathy, thank you for your input. I know our time in Florence is not ideal but this is our first trip to Italy and hopefully we will return another day! From the information in Ricks' book and what I have read online I am trying to piece together a schedule. We hope to see more than David at the Accademia but it is also useful to know how large the museum is, etc. So if i am not mistaken the Uffizi is larger and perhaps that should be done in the morning and the Accademia in the afternoon. Thank you for you insight.

Posted by
11613 posts

The Accademia is not large, but on the ground and upper floors are some significant medieval and Renaissance paintings. Two hours should be more than enough. The Uffizi is larger but unless you want to see every piece, two to three hours is as much time as I usually spend there (for a first visit, lean toward three hours).

Note that in Florence Tuesday has almost as many closed museums as Monday, so check the opening times for what you want to see.

Posted by
1054 posts

1) I haven't done the wine tour with the Tuscan Wine School. A friend of mine did the Savor Siena class with them and I actually signed up for that on my upcoming trip in August on his recomendation. For a tour you can try Roberto from Rick's book. http://www.toursbyroberto.com/tours.html. I did a wine tour with him last year and loved it. I have another tour with him booked for August. He has joinable tours were it's groups of up to 6 or 8 I forgot the number, if you don't want the private tours.

2)Nope

3)Plenty of time. I think we only stayed there about 30 min. Not much to see compared to the Uffizi

4)Have you looked at the closing hours of each place? If one is open later I would do that one in the afternoon.

Posted by
3112 posts

I did the Tuscan Wines class at the Tuscan Wine School in Siena. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but found the class informative and enjoyed it. The wines and accompanying snacks were all excellent. They have a nice selection of regional wines for sale in their shop, but there’s no pressure to buy.

Posted by
5697 posts

Accademia -- I spent at least a half-hour gazing at David plus time admiring the "prisoners" YMMV.

Posted by
715 posts

The Medici Chapel is often overlooked, and it should not be. It is simply amazing.

Posted by
16899 posts

Much love for the Medici Chapel. Buon viaggio!

Posted by
415 posts

Re: the Accademia
If you are interested in music, you should go to another section of the museum off to the side after the entrance. It should be marked or you can ask a guard. It's a great little display of various instruments through the ages - in particular there are several made by Stradivarius.

I doubt that you will spend 2 hours in the Accademia even if you go to the other rooms and the music museum.

Uffizi
I've found that the Uffizi seems to be less crowded in the very late afternoon. Please be aware of the fact that they have expanded the Uffizi and it is now much larger with more exhibit halls. Most of the additions are on the second floor from the top of the museum (formerly the top floor held the vast majority of exhibits). If you want to see the new exhibits, you will need to allow more time. Many of the works in the new halls are post Renaissance so viewing them depends on your interests.

Posted by
239 posts

Thank you all for the helpful tips! I love this forum :)