It is important that everyone in your party can enjoy a vacation comfortably and safely and as we have a range of accessible villas in Tuscany to choose from, it is certainly possible to accommodate those who may have mobility issues or require the use of a wheelchair.
While a getaway in Tuscany can be enjoyed by everyone, it is certainly true that many historic buildings, attractions, and towns can pose difficulties to those who have challenges when it comes to mobility. Progress has been made and destinations like Florence are actively working on making sure that all tourists can enjoy the city by introducing paved areas through cobbled sections of the city, adding lifts and ramps to buildings, and more. Although not quite everywhere is up to standard yet, here is a list of some museums in Florence and their accessibility features so you can plan a trip during a holiday in Florence, worry-free:
The Uffizi has a ramp entrance to the museum as well as an elevator to the second floor with a stair lift to the bar/roof terrace. Guide dogs are allowed and there is even a special itinerary for visually impaired guests.
Palazzo Pitti and Boboli Gardens
As the Palazzo Pitti is home to several museums of different sizes, layouts, and uses, the accessibility facilities vary somewhat throughout. While it is possible to approach the building from Piazza Pitti, it is a steep slope and those in manual wheelchairs may need help. Lifts are present and there are no steps, except a few to the ticket office itself. The first of the museums is the Treasury of the Grand Dukes, which is spread out across the ground and first floors and, while the ground floor rooms are accessible, the first floor rooms have not yet been made accessible. The Palatine Gallery and Imperial and Royal Apartments, meanwhile, are both located on the first floor and are accessible by lifts. So, too, is the Gallery of Modern Art, which also offers a multi-sensory audio-guide to the collections. The final museum, the Museum of Costume and Fashion, can be reached by elevator and then a stair lift for standard wheelchairs with a button that can be pressed to alert the staff of your arrival. This museum also has a special sensory tour with tactile experiences that can be offered if reserved in advance of your visit. Unfortunately, the gardens have gravel paths that may make them hard to access for some guests.
One of the most accessible museums, the Bargello is easy to enter and all of the rooms are accessible with lifts and ramps available throughout the building. Staff have been trained to help guests if necessary and there is a tactile path and audio-guide of the collections available.
With lifts and stair lifts throughout, the Accademia is fully accessible to guests.
The Duomo, Baptistery of San Giovanni, and Opera del Duomo Museum
Florence’s iconic Cathedral can be accessed on the right with the interior being fully accessible. A tactile model of the whole complex is part of the tactile guide to the Duomo. A ramp at the entrance to the Baptistery allows all to access it and it also has a tactile path. The Museum, meanwhile, has lifts to all three floors and the terrace and offers a range of different paths for specific audiences including for the visually impaired, those with hearing difficulties, those with Alzheimer’s, and more. The crypt, dome, and Giotto’s Bell Tower, however, feature narrow passageways and steep slippery steps that will likely be impossible to ever really make safely accessible.
Other accessible museums in Florence include:
- Much of the Palazzo Vecchio
- Palazzo Medici Riccardi
- The Medici Chapels
- Most of the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella and all of its Museum
- The Synagogue and some of the Jewish Museum
- Dante’s House Museum
- The Brancacci Chapel
- The Archaeological National Museum
- The Innocenti Museum
- Palazzo Strozzi
- The Museo del Novecento (Museum of the Twentieth Century)
- Marino Marini Museum
- The San Marco Museum but not the Church of San Marco
- The Galileo Museum