The Uffizi, the Renaissance, room by room.

Booking costs €4 more, but it gives you a time and saves you the queue of those who buy on the day. If you are also going to see the Pitti Palace and Boboli, the five-day PassePartout works out cheaper than separate tickets.

Why go and who it suits

The Uffizi is the place where you understand the Renaissance without needing books: in one morning you go from the golden backgrounds of the primitives to Botticelli's Primavera and Birth of Venus, Leonardo's Annunciation, Michelangelo's Doni Tondo and the Caravaggios. The building, designed by Vasari for the Medici offices, is a museum in itself: long corridors with ancient sculptures and windows over the Arno.

It suits anyone with a minimal interest in painting, and teenagers who recognise works from textbooks. Small children find it hard: there are many rooms, many people and little to touch. If you go with them, plan an hour and a half focused on four or five paintings.

Hours and when to go

It opens Tuesday to Sunday, from 8:15 to 18:30. The ticket office closes at 17:30 and at 18:30 the building is cleared. It is closed on Mondays, 1 January and 25 December. On strike days or staff meeting days the hours may change: the gallery's website announces them.

The first hour and the last are the quietest. Between 10:00 and 14:00 almost all the groups coincide. If it suits you, the afternoon ticket, from 16:00, is the best balance of price and calm, although it leaves you with a little over two hours.

How to organise the visit

The collection is seen in chronological order, from top to bottom. Start on the second floor, where the primitives, Giotto, International Gothic, Botticelli and Leonardo are, and then go down to the first, with Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio and the 17th century. If you are short of time, spend most of it on the second floor and go through the first more quickly.

Some rooms may be closed for restoration at any time; the gallery announces this on its website. Check the list before going if there is a particular work you don't want to miss.

What it costs in total

The ticket ranges from €16 in the afternoon to €29 booked. The audio guide costs €6 and requires ID. Citizens entitled to the reduced rate pay €2, and there is free entry for the groups set by Italian regulations. If you are also going to the Pitti Palace and Boboli, the €40 PassePartout over five days works out cheaper.

Accessibility

There is a ramp on via della Ninna, lifts between floors and accessible toilets on each floor. Wheelchairs of more than 230 kg with the person or more than 120 cm in length are not admitted.

If it rains

It is the perfect plan for a rainy day, and that is why there is a bigger queue that day: book a time. Combine it with the Palazzo Vecchio, next door, or with the Bargello, a few minutes away, so as not to go out in the street more than necessary.