I spent a bit of time this morning on the B ticketing site using Safari and i-Pad. After two problematic tries, back to staid Microsoft , successful purchase of PassePartout, reservation for Uffizi.
I can’t see an option to reserve for Boboli or Palazzo AFTER our visit to Uffizi. Is the magic in getting our tickets validated at Uffizi and THEN being able to book the other two?
Thank you.
Just hand onto the extra ticket parts for the palace and the gardens. Show up and present your tickets anytime within the time limit (I think it's 5 days) and they'll admit you.
No need to schedule.
Enjoy Florence,
=Tod
Hi watercolorwiz -
You really don't need reservations for the Boboli and Palazzo Pitti: that's why, aside from the Uffizi, the PassePartout doesn't include timed-entry booking for the those particular attractions. They're not as busy as the Uffizi, and last I knew there was a priority-entrance line for people with PassePartout or other types of tourist passes. From the website:
"The combined ticket is valid for 5 consecutive days and offers one single admission (with priority) to all the museum sites of the Uffizi, Pitti Palace, Boboli Gardens, in addition to the Museum of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure. With the combined ticket, it is mandatory to choose the day and the hour you wish to enter the Uffizi, which is the first museum to visit. Only after your visit at Uffizi, you can access to Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens without any restriction or time limit and without any other form of reservation, as long as it is included in the 5-days validity of your ticket."
What I don't recommend, not that you intend to, is trying to do the Uffizi, Pitti and Boboli in a single day! The Pitti complex can eat a LOT of time as the 28 rooms of the Palatine Galleries + Royal Apartment are extensive - although the 14 rooms of the apartments are still closed for renovation and I've not seen a re-opening date - and there's the Costume Gallery, Modern Art Gallery, Museum of Russian Icons and Treasury to see. The Boboli grounds are also VERY extensive and VERY short of the florals many expect when visiting "gardens", just so you know. :O)
I like to climb to the top of the Boboli Gardens first, then walk downhill to look at it, as on a hot day it’s a lot of work climbing up.
Just feels cooler that way somehow.
As Kathy, above, said, don’t expect flowers and blooms all over the place.
It is very structured, with clipped hedges and lots of trees, greenery, statues and paths.
Not colourful, but still lovely.
So much help! Thank you.
We’ll be there the last full week of October, and plan on visiting one major institution a day. Uffizi, then Academia. . .followed by meandering.
I just got the 2007 Civilized Shopper’s Guide to Florence. Once I verify which shops are still operating, I’ll repay your kindness by posting the list. (Who knew you could still purchase paintbrushes used by Renaissance masters?)
You're welcome!
Who knew you could still purchase paintbrushes used by Renaissance
masters?
AHA! A hint regarding your posting handle, watercolorwiz? :O)
Just have to throw this in.... If you're an art geek like me and if you haven't already done so, do be sure to include Basilica della Santissima Annunziata in the lovely piazza of the same name? The entry cloister of that church has some wonderful frescoes by notables of the late 1400's/very early 1500's. More good stuff inside.
Also try to pop into Santa Trinita to see the Sassetti Chapel. Domenico Ghirlandaio's "Stories of St. Francis" frescoes provide a fascinating peek at late 1400's Florence in some of the backgrounds. That's a sculpture-less Loggia dei Lanzi in "Confirmation of the Franciscan Rule", and Piazza Santa Trinita + the church with a pre-16th century facade in "The Resurrection of the Boy." Even more interesting is that the contemporary Florentines in the frescoes - Lorenzo de' Medici and several of his sons appear in "Confirmation of the Rule" - were painted as they really looked, down to clothing and hairstyles.
Cool, Kathy!
