Galleria Palatina in Palazzo Pitti

Galleria Palatina in Palazzo Pitti

Galleria Palatina in Palazzo Pitti
4.5
8:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Tuesday
8:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Wednesday
8:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Thursday
8:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Friday
8:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Saturday
8:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Sunday
8:00 AM - 7:00 PM

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4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles1,573 reviews
Excellent
1,038
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404
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96
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Terrible
12

Ross H
4 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2019
It is a wonderful collection of High Renaissance and Baroque pictures, but the lighting is so poor that many of the darker pictures were invisible in winter light. Details couldn't be discerned at all. One significant Titian portrait, that of Tommaso Mosti, was hung between two windows and was thus merely a dark shape on the wall. I couldn't see it at all.
Written January 10, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

mfilcol2014
Lisbon, Portugal1,760 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2022
The Palatine Gallery is one of several museums included in Palacio Pitti. It has an extraordinary collection of Renaissance paintings that were part of the Medici's private collection. This gallery runs through the royal apartments.
The presentation is a little confusing, with numerous pictures displayed in no chronological order or otherwise, which makes it difficult to view them in an orderly manner.
Written June 21, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Jason S
Melbourne, Australia2,180 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2023 • Solo
Gallery is inside the palace, several museum with in too see and all are very interesting to see.

Museum is full of renaissance art work, but much more to see than so nice art, lots of statues, furniture and lots of other things to see with in the walls of the palace.

It’s up there in the better museums to see in Florence with out thousands of people.
Written August 5, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

130Doug
Navarre, FL1,223 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Sep 2019
Walked in not really knowing what to expect. Saw several masterpieces and an interesting exhibition of clothing throughout the ages.
This is one of those places that made me want to learn more about the Medici family. Amazing history here!
Written February 6, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

MartinBrit
Nr windsor, England5 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
This was for me the best gallery I visited in Florence, and something of an undiscovered delight. While the tourist hordes are queuing for hours to get into the Uffizi or Accademia, I was able to arrive and go straight in. The building was once the royal palace so half is the rooms preserved as they were when in use, and half is a fantastic collection of paintings. If you like Raphael , there is one room with about half a dozen– amazing! The rooms that the works are displayed in are richly decorated, but not to the detriment of the art and each ceiling has an impressive fresco as well. All rooms have pamphlets in English and Italian to help the visitor and there is a free 10-minute orientation talk from a guide. I would urge any art lover to go. Be warned however, it is another 8 euros to visit the Boboli Gardens, which you can see out of the window anway.
Written October 27, 2006
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

LPWilliams
London, UK1,042 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2012 • Solo
The Palatina Gallery is my '1st place' attraction in Florence.

The gallery is one of the huge number of separate attractions residing in the huge, rather ugly, monolithic structure of the Pitti Palace - BUT that imposing/unattractive nature of the Palace belies the beautiful treasures that lie within...

I am compiling an extensive Trip Advisor 'Trip List' for my recent 6 full-day visit to see the sights of Florence. Please fell free to access it via my TA Profile - I hope it is of interest and use to you and I hope all of my individual reviews/photos/videos get posted properly as I know from past experience that the Trip Advisor submission process sometimes, incorrectly, 'blocks' them despite me being a so-called 'Senior Contributor'.....

Just before covering my personal views of the gallery, please note that as official information sources can change and the Internet links at the top of each attraction webpage on Trip Advisor can be wrong (or even absent !) I deal with visitor information/ticketing etc in the dedicated section for the attraction in my TA Trip List. This is because I have sole-control over that, can add Internet links and can edit/update it with ease to reflect changes (reviews cannot be amended after they're posted)..

Do note that due to the wide range of attractions in the Pitti Palace there is a choice of visitor ticketing options depending on what you want to see and how long you have. For the same reason, reviews on Trip Advisor can be spread between the entry for the individual attraction within the Palace and the separate entry for the Palace as a whole, so I suggest you explore the options as explained in my Trip List with reference to the official website which details them all..

I got the Pitti 'see everything' ticket as I could spread my viewings over the 3 days offered and there was a special Buy-One-Get-One-Free offer the weekend I went !

The vast palace rooms of the Palatina Gallery (plus a delightful chapel) are quite wonderful, beautifully decorated and contain works of art that, when viewed, completely mesmerised me. I visited this attraction 3 times in my visit and easily spent the most time here - I couldn't get enough of it !

*** It's now pertinent to mention that at the time of my visit you could leave/re-visit the gallery as you wished due to this specific gallery having no toilets. Check this is still true when you go as it means you can be more 'flexible' with your visit...

I went to this gallery after seeing several paintings by Raphael and Titian at the 'Uffizi' which aroused my interest and having then reading in my Florence guide book that the collections (500+, including sculptures and other fine pieces) at the Palatina were equally impressive and also featured a wider selection of works by these artists - it wasn't wrong !

All surfaces are decorated, so don't 'just' look at eye-level but also upwards at the ceiling ! Entry includes access to the adjacent Royal Apartments, rooms just as beautifully decorated but obviously devoid of the real masterpieces !

*** Unlike other premium galleries in Florence that I could mention, the Palatina is unusual in having extremely informative 'room plan/guides' available at each room entrance (Italian and English versions) in the form of large foldout illustrated placards; grab one, sit down on one of the comfy centrally-located seats and use the guide to identify the paintings, learn more about them and read about the ornate wall/ceiling decorations.

After my visit I thought it worthwhile getting the pricey, but extensive Official Guide @ EU10 - it's not that big but details every single painting using the same wall-plans as those available in each room and includes quality reproductions of the more 'popular' ones, ....There's a well-stocked shop at the gallery entrance to buy it; you can also get high-quality postcard-sized prints of the masterpieces and individual artist-collection books. Do watch out though, as some of the reproduction printing is a little 'variable'....

The presentation of the masterpieces is also first-rate, utilising similarly ornate frames.

I've added a numbered floorplan to this review and some example photos (downloaded as you can't take photos in the gallery, I hope they get posted by TA...) which I'll refer to below.

For me, some of the highlights are (see the photos I've added) :

1. The easy-to-miss, beautifully-decorated 'Room of the Ark' (Room 11) and the adjoining 'Chapel of the Relics' (you cannot go into the chapel, but can look through the entrance from the 'Ark' room).

2. The sumptuous 'Madonna and Child' and 'Madonna and Child with the Young St John' by Raphael, in the Saturn Room (Room 24).

3. The quite gorgeous 'Portrait of a Woman (The Woman with a Veil)' by Raphael, in the Jupiter Room (Room 25).

and then the best of the lot,

4. The stunning 'Portrait of a Man (The Englishman)' alongside 'St Mary Magdalene' by Titian, in the Apollo Room (Room 27).

Just those few highlights are worth admission on their own....

We all have different tastes, but I do urge you to visit this 'gallery' and not get overly distracted by the so-called 'top' attractions of the Uffizi/Accademia (the latter being arguably a 'one-hit wonder' by virtue of it containing the 'Statue of David').

In comparison, the Palatina is actually more than just a gallery since the palace rooms are often just as beautiful to look at as the paintings and there are also sculptures, items of fine furniture etc to enhance the viewing experience.

If I had missed out visiting the Palatina I would now be kicking myself !
Written April 1, 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

donatKalamata
Kalamata43 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Both the Pitti palace and the gallery have a strange story. The Medici rivals, the Pitti family wanted to built palace so austere and grandiose in the highest part of the town in order to impress the town people and provoke the jealousy of them rivals. However the cost became so high that the Pittis came in front of the bankrupt, so they were forced to sell the palace to -guess who?- the Medici... Later, wen the last became Great Dukes of Tuscany, it became the ducal palace, riched by the Boboli gardens. The gallery is situated in the royal rooms, decorated by the barock master Pietro da Cortona, and contains the part of the Medici collection that the owners didn't wanted to be explored at the Uffizzi either because of its lack of rooms or because they wanted those paintings for private use. It doesn't mean that the collection is less important than the Uffizzi, the contrary I belive. The paintings are not exposed by time period or school, because it's wanted to be preserved the decorative taste of a noble collection of that time. From the works don't miss the Titians portraits, the Rafaels "madona di Granduca" and "the pregnant", Caravaggio's "sleeping cupid", Ruben's "the consequences of the war", Allori's "Judith with the head of Holophernes", Castiglione's (?) "Kain killing Adel" -my favorite barock painting, looking like caught in the act. With the same ticket you have access to the royal apartments, as Florence was for a short period the capital of the Italian kingdom (1865-71) and the palace was the residence of king Vittorio Emanuele I. One negative point is the high cost of the whole palace museums (galleria palatina, modarn painting gallery, museum of silver sculpture, costume museum, carriage museum -temporary closed- porcelain museum, Boboli gardens. However, tha whole thing was one of the best surprises of my whole trip to Florence, don't miss it !!!
Written January 28, 2010
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Yann W
31 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2020 • Couples
Great deal for this amazing exhibition... some museums are only worth €2 but I would have been happy to pay more than that for this one ! Beautiful pieces of art all over
Written August 26, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

KestasKS
Vilnius, Lithuania3,735 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2019
Former residence, a lot of art objects. Check out the views thru the windows while visiting- the gardens, the views of the old town etc.
Written December 15, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

mrtjaet
Worcestershire, UK341 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2015 • Family
So, the Palazzo Pitti, just over the Ponte Vecchio, is big. You can, and perhaps should, spend the best part of a day here. The Palazzo houses the galleria d'arte Moderna (don't be thinking 20th century though (there is some, but not much.), the Silver museum, the costume museum, the porcelain museum, the Palatine gallery, the royal apartments and the Boboli Gardens.

So, there are 2 ticket choices: Numero 1 - the Palatine/Modern/Silver Galleries 13 Euro & Numero 2: the gardens, costume & porcelain galleries. 10 EUR. But you probably want the Palatine & gardens, so have to buy both! (As with all of the municipal museums of Florence, Under 18's from EU countries are free.)

The gardens are for the physically fit. Consider packing a parasol, very little shade. The Grotto is currently closed for renovation. The fountains weren't on for my visit.

There was a fine temporary exhibition of Dolci's work for the Medici's, but frustratingly masked the room interiors.

For me the Canova marbles are the best of the modern art gallery, but one really does get a feeling of an inhabited Florence past from the local painting and Medici collection.

The 17th century interiors match any in Europe, with a particular Italian penchant for illusionary architectural painting.

The costume gallery was given over to a celebration of Italian women, designers and fashionistas. Fortuny gets a mention.

The small cafe 25EUR for two coffees & two small glasses of cold milk and 9EUR for 2 small focaccia!
Written July 24, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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