The best way to visit the Medici Villa at Poggio a Caiano is with a guided visit!
The villa is offering, from every Thursday September 24 through November 26, the project “VILLINVITA” which offers free guided visits by the personnel of the monumental apartments in the Medici villa.
Part of various initiatives to promote the museums in the Tuscan Regional Museums organization, the visits are offered every Thursday at 3:00, 4:00, 5:00, 7:00, 8:00 and 9:00 pm.
Entrance is free for groups of up to 10 guests at each time. Booking is required by the day before the visit by calling 055 877012.
You must arrive at least 10 minutes before the scheduled visit entrance time, entrance to the villa’s park is free.
Once the park is closed, the visits that take place in the later hours enter by the large gate in Piazza dei Medici.
The guided visit takes visitors to the monumental Salone di Leone X, located on the first floor of the villa, one of the most important examples of Florentine painting of the 1500s. The Salon is splendidly decorated with allegorical frescoes that celebrate the life of the Medici family designed and painted by Andrea del Sarto, Pontormo, Franciabigio, Alessandro Allori and their workshops. The visit also includes the Dining Hall, the Billiards Room, the bathroom decorated in Imperial style by Napoleon’s sister, Elisa Baciocchi, the Theater and Rosa Vercellana’s bedroom, known as “la Bella Rosina”‘, the morganatic wife of King Vittorio Emanuele II of Savoy.
Villa’s opening times
During these difficult times, it is difficult to stay up to date with opening times, special hours and extraordinary closings of monuments and museums in Tuscany. Thus, I’ve decided to focus on highlighting the special openings that in one way or another help us take advantage of the places rather than try to cover everything. In this case, here are the opening times for the villa starting October 25th, 2020.
The villa’s Gardens are open, free entrance and without needing to book, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays as well as the 2nd and 3rd Sunday of the month. Hours 8:15am – 5:00pm (last entrance is at 4:30pm).
The Villa, on the other hand, does require booking to be visited. You need to call ahead and book at 055 877012); a maximum of 10 people are allowed into the villa at a time.
The visit into the villa, on these other days, is accompanied but without a guide – for that reason, the guided visits are what I’ve highlighted above. On these days (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and 2nd and 3rd Sundays), the villa allows up to 10 people in every hour between 8.30am and 3.30pm where the visit lasts 55 minutes. There is no visit at the 1:30pm time slot (lunch break).
The Villa and Gardens are closed: Mondays and Thursdays, the 1st, 4th and last Sunday of the month, January 1st and December 25th.
The Still-Life Museum is temporarily closed.
Rules to follow on your visit
Visitors are obligated to follow current policies put in place for the safety of all visitors during this time:
- Entrance with mask in place, covering mouth and nose
- Disinfecting of hands
- Respect of social distancing space of at least 1.5 meters
- Do not loiter in the passage areas such as hallways
- Temperature will be taken at the time of entrance, anyone showing a fever of 27.5° or higher will not be allowed entry.
Hope you enjoy your visit!
About Lourdes Flores
An American living in Florence for over 10 years, Lourdes continues to explore and discover new places in Tuscany with the eyes of a tourist but with the experience of living in Italy. She shares her experiences on this blog and website, particularly offering lots of travel planning help on the Forum!
