Guide to Uffizi Gallery: Tickets & Skip the Line in Florence

Let us then take a tour of Florence the UNESCO heritage city’s treasures and the internationally famous Uffizi Gallery to discover what and why it is termed remarkable.

This one-time Florentine magistrate's office has its collections chronologically laid out from 13^th to 17^th centuries introducing you gradually to the evolution of art, its master-artists and of course the paintings and sculptures.

The Uffizi Gallery, Florence spread over two floors was architected by the then famous architect Giorgio Vasari and constructed between1560-80. A real blue-blooded treasure trove of collectibles, originals, and copies of Medici Family sculptures, ancient books, Greeco-Roman busts and more from the Modern period 20^th century back to the Middle ages of the 13^th century. The paintings here are 14th-century depictions by master artists Flemish, German, Danish, Italian and European including Simone Martini, Giotto, Piero della Francesca, Filippo Lippi, Beato Angelico, Botticelli, Correggio, Mantegna, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Caravaggio, and Raffaello.

Let us dive straight into what is to see at the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.

The first section of the Hall #2 of the gallery is dedicated to Giotto and another 200 of his era disciples and artists of the 13^th century and ordered chronologically, by artists and their pupils. It is fascinating to see the first depiction of the Virgin Mary in the feminine form introduced and portrayed by Giotto.

Sandro Botticelli who was a participant of the Medici Theatre was a very prolific Florentine painter whose works are displayed at the Halls 10 to14. His work titled Nascita di Venere or the Birth of Venus was commissioned by the Medici family between the years of 1482-1485 and portrayed the popular literary form of Venus on a seashell. The sheer beauty of the painting invokes the feelings of the birth pangs of love, spiritual and philosophical beauty and pining captured in essence by the artist.

This is another painting in Hall 10 to 14 by master artist Boticelli, from the Medicci family treasures commissioned between the years of1477 to 1482. Beauty and meaning lie in the eyes of the beholder and the allegorical meaning of the poetry, myriad color, and elegance of the details of depicting nature and the literal spring’s allegory of Venus needs to be explored to understand.

This masterpiece by Leonardo-Da-Vinci was commissioned in the years of 1475 to 1480. The scene of the Annunciation has been depicted with precision including some artistic depictions which are realistic and bring out the multi-talents of the inventor, painter, astronomer, architect and military engineer that was da Vinci’s. He has used size, perspective, imagination, and art craftily interweaving the various design elements of the Annunciation of the birth of Jesus, to bring out the surreal beauty of art and nature.

This is the only panel painting by Michaelangelo Buonarroti, the most famous sculptor of all times. He is also credited with the giant statue hewn of marble titled David and housed at the second most-famous Florentine museum the Galleria dell’Accademia. The 16th-century masterpiece is round as depicted in its name and commissioned by Agnolo Doni. The painting in Hall 35 of the Uffizi Gallery, Florence seems like the colors are intense and shimmery while the poses of the Holy Trio appear askew and unnatural.

The Venetian artistTitian or Tiziano’s painting in Hall 83 was commissioned and finished in 1538 for Guidobaldo the second Della Rovere, the Duke of Urbino. This is Titian’s take on the Giorgione’s 1510 painting Sleeping Venus, who is the epitome of love. The painting is a vivid representation of all the traits of beauty, fidelity, marital obligations, chastity, fertility and eroticism in a mother and woman who is known and revered for her marital subjugation to the husband.

This central panel in Hall 7, is part of the triptych executed by Paoulo Uccello in 1438. His paintings are also to be found in the National Gallery at London and the Paris museum of the Louvre. The painting depicts the victory overcoming the Sienese by the Florentines and is a complete depiction of the art of the Renaissance period. In great detail are executed several new elements like the armor worn, the horses and their regalia and the hunting scenery which made Uccello famous.

In Hall 90 you get to admire the paintings of Caravaggio or Michelangelo Merisi who died in 1610 at the young age of 39. The Wine-God Bacchus has been depicted offering his goblet. Many details and his allusion to Bacchus as a mortal with soiled fingernails show the realism of the artist’s life.

This is another painting titled the Shield-with-the-Head-of-Medusa in the same hall depicting the snake-haired mythological Medussa and was commissioned by the Medicci family. Her head was known for prudence and knowledge, and the painting shows her fear over her imminent beheading. The sculpture in bronze with the Medussa head on the God Perseus is displayed at the Piazza della Signorina.

Hall 90 has Caravaggio paintings and also the masterpiece Judith- and- Holoferenes executed by his famous follower Artemisia Gentileschi, a forerunner of women artists and painters. The offspring of Orazio Gentileschi also a follower of Caravaggio is a stark depiction of the biblical chaste icon Judith who seduces Holofernes and decapitates him without losing her chastity. Initially, this painting was retained at the Palace de Pitti because of its unconventionality and later displayed at the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.

The Uffizi Gallery Florence works Tuesdays to Sundays from 08:15 to 18:50 each day. It is closed on all Mondays, December 25^th and January 1^st. Ticketing is ended promptly at 18:05 and shutting down starts at 18:35 each working day. The visiting periods are divided into entry dates from 1^st March to 31^st Oct and 1^st November to 28^th February. Tickets typically cost 20€ in the first and 12€ in the second. A fee reduction of 2€ is allowed. A combined all-museums ticket costs either 38 or 18 Euros depending on the two periods mentioned above. Annual passes are also available at the cost of 50 Euros for a single person, 70 Euros for a visit to all the museums and 100 Euros for the family. Tickets can be bought in person, online, or over the phone reservation dedicated lines.

There are some entry-free and admission days at no charge, when priority admissions and reservations may not be available. However, visitor’s who are disabled and their attendants; school groups and pregnant women do have a guaranteed quota of daily reservations which are at the discretion of the Director of the Uffizi Gallery Florence. A reservation fee of 4 Euros is charged, and the telephonic number for it is 39-055-294883. Entry to the same-campus National Archaeological Museum is free and included in the ticket charge for visiting the Uffizi Gallery.

By using the skip-the-line bookings, you get direct entry and can avoid the large crowds you see at every museum in Florence. There is no need to wait in long queues or search for guides as happens at these world-famous museums, art galleries or tourist points of interest. ‘Skip the line’ at the Uffizi Gallery Florence and enjoy the art powerhouses numerous offerings in a 1.5 hour guided tour. The skillful oratorical artistry of the experienced guides can help immerse you into the viewed art period drawing out its cultural relationships, bonding with the various periods of Italian history and allowing you to experience a once-in-a-lifetime view of the famous paintings.

Among the various facilities at the Uffizi Gallery Florence are the scenic cafeteria on the second floor to grab some breakfast before the tour, access ramp for wheelchairs via the entrance on della Ninna with staff members to help get to the lifts with stops at all floors and free cloakroom facilities at the entrance where umbrellas, backpacks, and heavy bags need to be left. WCs are available on all floors and do have access and special toilets for the disabled. An equipped pit-stop for mother’s with babies is available close to the cafeteria and open till 6 pm. An information desk about the Uffizi Gallery Florence can be found at the entrance can be helpful for any queries. Guides with proficiency in English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Polish Japanese and Russian will gladly accompany you for a price of 6.00 Euros till 5 pm. Bookshops with multilingual guide-books, gallery-gadgets, and art or history books are available on the ground floor, near the entrance and exit as also at the entrance to the first floor. A service-oriented Uffizi gallery Florence ground floor ATM and post-office are also available at the visitor's desk. All in all, the gallery is very visitor riendly, accessible, and clean!

The best time of the year to take these trips to the Uffizi Gallery Florence is generally between May and October. The entrance is in either the morning 09:00 session or the evening 16:30 session. From November to April only the evening session’s at 16:30 are allowed.

Tourists want to soak themselves and see as much as possible during their stay. Since the Uffizi Gallery, Florence tour lasts about 90 minutes, the Florence sights with much to offer in terms of art, culture, history, traditions offer many other places to visit like the landmark places and sights mentioned below.

These are just a few of the landmarks like the Duomo Square, the Florence Cathedral, Baptistery of St. John, Basilica of Santa Croce and Giotto's Campanile among many more that have great significance and connection between art and the church beliefs of the period.