Time spent in Museums

We were in the Uffizi for 2.5hrs. Lots to see. Academia 1.5hrs. The Bargello was not that great for us - about an hour. We went across the street and slightly to the right and had a great pizza and Coke Light for lunch. The Duomo museum was one of the best for us. We were in there for about 2.0 hours. 4 floors of treasures to see including Brunischellis (Spelling?) working models of the dome and the original "Gates to Paradise" metal carvings from the Baptistery doors. There is really a lot of stuff in there. We skipped the Pitti Palace.

We spent 2 hours in the Uffizi.

Many people do Accademia in a half hour. David is the main attraction. When we were there they were also having a Mapplethorpe exhibit and since I'd never seen his work, we looked. I was amazed at how his photos capture human muscles and tendons the say way Michangelo did! (Of course, a camera can capture that stuff a little easier than starting with a block of marble.) So we spent about 50 minutes at Accademia.

Bargello took us about an hour. No line waiting to get in when we were there in the early afternoon. Unfortunately, Donatello's David was out on loan, to Milan until sometime in August, I believe.

I have to put in a plug for the Pitti Palace. Many people seem to overlook or dismiss it, but I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe it's because I had no preconceived notions about it and only went because I was wandering around the Oltrarno, stumbled across it, and thought, "why not?". Certainly there are better collections elsewhere, but it has some amazing individual works. Titian's "Young Englishman" (I think that was the name)is startlingly modern; I half expected him to step out of the frame, pull out a Blackberry and close a business deal. ---As for the Uffizi, allow plenty of time; I booked my appointment time for too late in the day and was booted out before I got to Caravaggio.

ACCADEMIA: 1 hour total.

Sculpture room in back: 15 minutes
All other Non-David items: 15 minutes

David: 30 minutes, minimum. I'm a Michelangelo geek. Personally for me the power of David is not so much the sheer beauty of the sculpture (I prefer Pieta) or what Michelangelo is trying to convey. Rather, it's the story of David's creation and survival to this day.

I can just see Leonardo and Botticelli figuring out where to put it, a mere 10 years after Columbus first reached North America. Then it was outside in the elements for 350 years. Although it's made of stone, in a lot of ways it's almost as is if it's made of flesh. Think about all the death and destruction in Europe since it was created - Inquisition, French Revolution, both World Wars, Holocaust - yet David still survives. Great story.

Of course, first read the placard in front of the David telling the story. Then, there are some terrific side benches (I don't recall from before) that allow you to view David from an angle. Spend 10 minutes on each bench visualizing in your mind the story on the placard.

PITTI PALACE: I really liked Pitti Palace too. 45 minutes if you blow through the rooms quickly, or 90 minutes if you read the placards and try to make sense of the rooms as described by the placards.

Thank you all so much, your experiences have been a great help to be sure that I leave enough of a time gap in between museums. So if we move slower no problem and faster no problem, after all we will be in Florence! Great help in figuring out pre booking times.
Grazie
Tom

Tom, google Friends of the Uffizi Membership for info on a pass to the museums you mentioned. It's great, and doesn't require any advance reservations.

We only spent 2 hours in the Uffizi but could have easily spent 3 hours. Unfortunately, we had reservations at the Accademia to get to or we would have stayed. We spent less than an hour at the Accademia; a little less than half of it with David and the rest of it at the Maplethorpe exhibit that's there right now.

We skipped the Duomo Museum and the Bargello, but did the Pitti Palace gallery. It's larger than you'd think. I'd estimate that we spent 1 1/2 hours there and didn't do the gardens. We didn't do the Accademia in Rome but we did do the National Museum. That took about 1 1/2 hours as well.

After 2 hours in any museum I fall to the ground suffering from art & culture overload.