Pitti Palace and Palatine Gallery: A Royal Art and History Tour
Description
Explore the grand-ducal residence of the Medici family, their vast private collection of paintings, arranged in rooms sumptuously decorated with baroque stuccoes and frescoes, and the royal apartments, joined to the gallery, once the residence of the king of Italy.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Enjoy the guided tour inside this marvelous palace, which was built during the 15th century and then bought by the Medici Family becoming their glorious residence. The guide will escort you through the Palatine Gallery (Galleria Palatina) in order for you to enjoy the beauties kept there.
This private collection is made up of a vast group of paintings owned by the Grand Dukes and they are displayed in the official staterooms on the first floor of the Pitti Palace. Along with your local guide, you will discover dozens of Renaissance paintings, including the most remarkable masterpieces by Botticelli, Titian, Rubens, Caravaggio, and many other Italian and European painters from the 15th to the 17th century, through the Planetary Rooms. These rooms were designed by the great Baroque painter Pietro da Cortona and they create an overwhelmingly stunning environment of frescoes and stucco, where you will soon find that this beautiful setting provides the perfect background of the superb exhibition of paintings from the Medici collection. Finally, you will visit the royal apartments.
The tour takes about one and an half hours, the perfect amount of time to appreciate the art collections, and you are also free to return to anything you might want to see again after the tour ends. This is the ideal tour for art and history lovers alike, made all more the better by your knowledgeable tour guide and coveted skip-the-line access
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Wheelchair accessible
- Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- The tour operator guarantees 'skip the line' tours even during peak season, except in the event of delays or strikes by the museum management.
- Please note that the tour requires a minimum number of two guests to run.
- Please note that if you arrive after the tour start time you will not be able to join and will not be refunded or have your tour rescheduled.
- There is a possibility of cancellation after confirmation if there are not enough passengers to meet requirements, in the event of this occurring you will be offered an alternative or full refund.
Reviews(43)
The tour guide never showed up, they cancelled last minute without even notifying me. I had to find out from calling trip advisor while I was outside the place. This is a scam
Thank you for your feedback. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused. Unfortunately, on the day of the tour, the guide was involved in an accident, and our team immediately went to assist him. Due to this unexpected emergency, the tour had to be cancelled at the last minute. A full refund was issued promptly. We understand your frustration and disappointment, but we would like to clarify that this was an unfortunate emergency situation, not a scam. If that were the case, refunds would not have been processed. We truly regret the impact this had on your experience and appreciate your understanding.
We had our tour cancelled approximately 1 hour before starting. We had confirmed we would like to proceed a few days before our arrival. This was a disappointing experience.
Thank you for your feedback. We’re very sorry for the disappointment caused by the cancellation. Unfortunately, the Royal Apartments were unexpectedly closed due to renovation works, a decision made by the museum management and completely outside of our control. As soon as we were informed, we immediately notified all affected guests to avoid unnecessary inconvenience. We understand how frustrating this was, especially after confirming your participation, and we sincerely regret the situation. Thank you for your understanding, and we hope to have the opportunity to welcome you to another experience in the future under better circumstances.
Tour guide was phenomenal! There were only 6 in our tour, and we had fantastic explanations! Our guide grew up near the palace and was able to give us many first hand accounts of changes.
Thank you so much for your wonderful review! We’re delighted to hear you enjoyed the small group experience and that your guide’s personal connection to the Pitti Palace added an extra layer of insight. We’re thrilled you had a memorable visit and we hope to welcome you again soon!
Guido was the best tour guide ever! He was very knowledgeable, nice, easy to understand. We had a great time!
Thank you for your fantastic review! We’re so happy to hear that Guido made your experience at the Palatina Gallery and Pitti Tour memorable. It’s great to know that his knowledge, kindness, and clear communication contributed to your enjoyable visit. We truly appreciate your kind words and hope to welcome you again for another amazing tour in the future!
Our guide was Lara, who was amazingly knowledgeable about the history of Florence and the Medici family, as well as the artwork and history of the Pitti Palace. My wife and I got very lucky, and did the tour solo with Lara, who was very sweet and engaging. She guided us through the significant works of the many rooms, and also explained how the different rooms were used by the Medici family over the years, even through Napoleon’s (unfortunate) rule of the area. We wanted to do the Boboli Gardens also, but am glad now we didn’t book as a combo - it’s too much for one single visit. I recommend doing them separately.
The Pitti Palace is very impressive and the art collection is amazing. Numerous paintings by Raphael, Titian and Rubens… incredible. And the history, including ties with Napoleon and multiple Popes make the whole experience quite interesting. More ornate than the Vecchio Palace. And our guide was extremely knowledgeable and passionate about the subject matter of the entire tour.
We really enjoyed the tour, the guide was informative and provided some very interesting information about the paintings she pointed out to us.
Great tour. The guide was very informative and the art work was magnificent. Highly recommend it. Regrettably we didn’t leave enough time to see the gardens, make time they looked beautiful.
Lara is by far the best guide we have ever had! We travel a lot and we have never met a more knowledgeable, articulate and passionate about art guide. Next time we come back to Florence, we will try finding Lara for our next cultural experience.
Very, Very disappointed! My wife and I could not hear the guide’s commentary and discussion as we were taken through the tour. There were no headsets provided. Even though there were only 4 on the tour, the place was very crowded, the guide spoke at regular volume, and you couldn’t stand close enough to really hear her. I requested a 75% refund as a result, and the company refused. Shame on them! I would urge prospective customers to beware — you may not get what you paid for and the company doesn’t stand behind their product.
