Unofficial visitor guide · Florence
Gallerie degli Uffizi · Google Maps
Official audio guide · English Yes · 8 languages · €6
The Uffizi rents an audio guide in eight languages for its permanent collection. If your language isn't one of them, or you want the labels read to you, here is what helps.
Independent guide by the makers of Tales of Museums. Not affiliated with the Uffizi Galleries.
Checked on 14 October 2026 from the sources linked above. Museums change their guides and rules; confirm on the official Uffizi website before you go.
Checked on 14 October 2026 from the sources linked above. Museums change their guides and rules; confirm on the official Uffizi website before you go.
Swipe for the works and stories worth knowing before you go.
Between 13 and 28 June 1940 the Uffizi sent 550 paintings and sculptures, the Medici Venus among them, to shelter at Poggio a Caiano. After 1943 German troops trucked works to depots beyond Bolzano, meant for Hitler's planned museum at Linz. 400 crates came back, welcomed in Piazza della Signoria on 21 July 1945.
Buontalenti built this octagonal room for Francesco I de' Medici's treasures. Its dome holds 5,780 mother-of-pearl shells from the Indian Ocean on a scarlet ground coloured with cochineal insects. A weathervane on the roof turns a wind rose painted inside, and the lantern doubles as a sundial.
In 1534 Parmigianino promised to finish this altarpiece in five months; at his death in 1540 it was still in his studio. When it reached its altar in 1542, an inscription blamed adverse destiny for leaving it incomplete. Find St Francis at lower right: only one of his feet was ever painted.
Raphael painted it for Lorenzo Nasi's marriage to Sandra Canigiani in 1506. In 1547 a landslide destroyed the Nasi house and the panel broke into seventeen pieces. It was put back together, and by 1646-47 it belonged to Cardinal Giovan Carlo de' Medici.
According to the Uffizi, the painting's raw naturalism caused such strong reactions in Florence that it was denied a place in the Gallery. Cosimo II paid late, and Artemisia collected her fee only with help from her friend Galileo Galilei. She became the first woman admitted to Florence's Academy of Art and Design.
The 2012 restoration found traces of gilding, cinnabar on her lips and Egyptian blue on the dolphin's wave, and her earlobes are pierced for metal earrings. Travellers from 1704 to 1764 described her gilded hair. The French took her to Paris in 1802; she came home in 1816 under the Treaty of Vienna.
This Bacchus was found in the Uffizi's own storerooms in 1913, and the art historian Roberto Longhi attributed it to Caravaggio. It had come in 1608 as a gift from Cardinal del Monte, together with the Medusa, for the wedding of Ferdinando I de' Medici's son Cosimo II.
Cosimo I built the palace as offices for Florence's courts and guilds. The art stayed because the last Medici, Anna Maria Luisa, left it to the city in 1737 for the use of the public and to draw the curiosity of foreigners. Peter Leopold opened it as a public museum on 24 June 1769, the feast of St John.
uffizi.it: About us · uffizi.it: The historic entrance reborn
Michelangelo painted this Holy Family for the merchant Agnolo Doni, who married Maddalena Strozzi in 1504. The carved frame, probably designed by Michelangelo and made by Francesco del Tasso, hides small crescent moons at the upper left: the Strozzi family emblem.
In 1481 Leonardo promised this altarpiece to the friars of San Donato in Scopeto within 30 months, then left for Milan with it unfinished; Filippino Lippi painted their replacement. The 2012-2017 restoration lifted a tinted varnish that hid the background and showed he worked out the design straight on the panel.
uffizi.it: Leonardo, Adoration of the Magi · uffizi.it: The Adoration restored
Tales of Museums reads the label in front of you aloud in your language, for any work where photos are allowed. Bring mobile data and headphones.
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The official guide is in eight languages: Italian, English, French, Spanish, German, Polish, Russian and Japanese, for €6. It covers the permanent collections only. uffizi.it
Yes, for personal or study use, without flash, selfie sticks or tripods. Works on loan to temporary exhibitions are excluded. uffizi.it: rules
It is not documented. The Uffizi calls a Medici patron highly probable: the painting is first recorded in 1550 at the Medici villa of Castello. uffizi.it
Yes, since it reopened on 21 December 2024, with a reserved, named Uffizi + Vasari Corridor ticket. Audio guides rented in the museum must be returned before you enter it. uffizi.it
Yes: on the first Sunday of every month, and on the national holidays of 25 April, 2 June and 4 November. Under-18s of any nationality always enter free, and EU citizens from age 18 until their 25th birthday pay a reduced €2. uffizi.it: FAQ · uffizi.it: free and reduced tickets
Booking is mandatory on weekends and public holidays; on weekdays you can come without one, but the wait can be long. The Uffizi is open Tuesday to Sunday, 8:15 am to 6:30 pm (ticket office closes 5:30 pm), and closed on Mondays, 1 January and 25 December. uffizi.it: FAQ · uffizi.it: The Uffizi
Yes. There is an access ramp in Via della Ninna and there are lifts, and wheelchairs and walkers are lent free at the entrance in exchange for an ID document, with no booking or deposit. Visitors with disabilities and their companion need no booking and collect tickets at the ticket office under the Levante Loggia near Via della Ninna. uffizi.it: accessibility information · uffizi.it: The Uffizi
Backpacks, bulky bags and umbrellas must go in the free cloakroom just after the entrance (maximum 40 x 40 x 50 cm). The café is on the second floor and has a terrace with a panoramic view. uffizi.it: The Uffizi · uffizi.it: FAQ
Yes. Pushchairs are allowed in the Uffizi if they are not oversized, but they cannot be left at the cloakroom or unattended in the rooms; large child-carrier backpacks are not allowed, while front baby carriers of a reasonable size are. The Baby Pit-Stop, a protected area for breastfeeding and nappy changing, is inside the café on the second floor, and baby food, bottles and small cartons of juice for children are the only food allowed in the galleries. Under the Uffizi Kids programme the museum offers family routes such as 'Flowers at the Uffizi', a self-guided tour with an information sheet, and 'Monsters in Art!', a hunt for the fantastic creatures hidden in the masterpieces. uffizi.it: information on the accessibility of our museums (prams, Baby Pit-Stop, food and drink) · uffizi.it: Families (Uffizi Kids) · uffizi.it: FAQ (visitor rules)
With the combined Uffizi + Vasari Corridor ticket, you enter the Uffizi two hours before your Corridor time slot, and the walk through the roughly 1 km Corridor, in a group accompanied by museum staff, then lasts about 35 minutes. Be at the meeting point in Room D19 on the Uffizi's first floor at least 10 minutes before your slot, because latecomers lose their place; the Corridor ends in the Boboli Gardens at Piazza Pitti. uffizi.it: Vasari Corridor (timetable and general information) · uffizi.it: Tickets (Uffizi + Vasari Corridor ticket)
Tales of Museums is an independent app and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to the Uffizi Galleries. Translations, narration and the extra facts use AI and can contain mistakes, so for anything important, check the museum's official information and the linked sources. Please follow the museum's photography rules.