Question My wife and I will be visiting Florence and Siena the second week in December for the first time. We enjoy visiting museums and art gallaries. Are there any tickets that we should get ahead of time? Are there any art gallaries (traditional) that you suggest?
Answer Hello,
while in Florence I suggest you to visit the Uffizi and the Accademia. In December, unless you plan to go there on the 24th or on new year's eve, it won't be necessary to plan in advance. You can just show up and purchase the tickets. In the accademia it is almost immediate, at the Uffizi some line could be necessary, but nothing compared to the lines that there are right now.
I frankly would suggest to hire a guide, first of all because it's always good to have someone explaining what you are looking at and then also because with the guide you don't make lines.
The price given by the association of Florentines Guide is 140 Euro per 3.5 hours and the double for the full day (6 hours). The same price is valid for Siena also.
In Siena there's the Palazzo Pubblico with very famous and gorgeous paintings and the Pinacoteca where many masterpieces are showed. There's also the famous Palazzo delle Papesse where they make modern art expositions and I guess you are not interested. I'd stay away from the museum of torture, it sounds like a weird thing to me and no artistical value. It just shows how bad the evil of human race can be.
For the countryside instead I'd suggest Tours Around Tuscany, always great reviews and feedback from people who take a tour with them. They are not cheap though, so in case you want to stai on a budget there are several tour buses for as low as 30 Euro per person, but you get what you pay for, like always.
