What to Expect at the Uffizi Gallery: Entry to Exit

Stat card: 126 steps up the Grand Ducal staircase to the second floor where the Uffizi visit begins; lifts are available

In the courtyard: tickets, entrance and ID

The ticket office is under the east loggia near Via della Ninna, and the museum entrance is in the same east wing off the courtyard; the official map numbers it Door 1 and marks it as the accessible entrance with priority. Visitors with a reservation and visitors buying on the day use separate, signposted lines along the same side, so follow the sign that matches your ticket.

Every ticket has been nominal since October 2025, so staff compare the name on it with your passport or ID card; a mismatch means no entry and no refund. Some reseller tickets are handed over at a meeting point nearby, so check your voucher first.

Security and the cloakroom

The one line everyone joins is security. Coats go through a scanner belt and you walk through a metal detector; with a timed ticket, visitors report 5 to 15 minutes here and 20 to 30 at mid-morning peaks. Knives, glass bottles, cans, alcohol and food other than baby food are refused; water is allowed in a plastic bottle or flask up to 50 cl.

The cloakroom is immediately after the entrance, under the eastern colonnade. Backpacks, bags beyond handbag size and large umbrellas must be left there; pocket umbrellas may be carried. Storage is free for bags smaller than 55 × 40 × 20 cm, and the concessionaire charges €2 for suitcases and other oversized items.

The staircase, the lifts and the route

The Grand Ducal staircase is four flights and 126 steps up to the second floor, and you will feel it, particularly on a warm afternoon or with a small child on your hip. Lifts are on the ground floor inside.

The route runs top down. You start on the second floor, with the oldest and most famous paintings, and descend to the first for the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It is essentially one way, and the museum’s own map gives three timings: “Fast”, 1½ to 2 hours, the second floor only, leaving by the Lanzi staircase; “Classic”, more than 2 hours, adding the Titian and Caravaggio rooms (groups D and E) on the first floor; and “Complete”, more than 3 hours, adding groups B and C as well. A reserved ticket has no time limit inside. For a first visit I would allow two and a half hours: the second floor at an unhurried pace, then Titian and Caravaggio downstairs.

One catch: the Lanzi staircase exit at the end of the short route does not lead back to the cloakroom or the audio-guide return desk, so anyone with a bag downstairs or a rented audio guide should take the full route to the ground-floor exit.

The corridors and the famous rooms

The second floor is three long corridors around a U, lined with the Medici collection of ancient statues and busts. The rooms run in rough chronological order: A1–A7 for the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, A8–A16 for the early Renaissance, A17–A23 for painting from north of the Alps, and A24–A42 for the High Renaissance.

Room	What is there
A4	Giotto’s Ognissanti Maestà, with Cimabue’s Santa Trinita Maestà
A7	Gentile da Fabriano’s Adoration of the Magi
A9–A12	The Botticelli rooms, reopened June 2026: Birth of Venus and Primavera face each other
A16	The Tribuna, with the Medici Venus
A25	Piero della Francesca’s Duke and Duchess of Urbino
A35	Leonardo’s Annunciation, Adoration of the Magi and Baptism of Christ
A38	Michelangelo’s Doni Tondo and Raphael’s Madonna of the Goldfinch
D23, first floor	Titian’s Venus of Urbino
E4, first floor	Caravaggio’s Medusa and Sacrifice of Isaac, with Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith

Rooms A17–A21 and A40–A42 upstairs and C7–C12, D3 and D9–D11 downstairs are closed for works through 31 December 2026, with the A40–A42 paintings shown in C9–C10 instead, and on very busy days staff may close other rooms for a while. For a room-by-room plan, see what to see in the Uffizi.

Café terrace, toilets and the bookshop

The café is on the second floor, with a panoramic terrace at the end of the western corridor above the Loggia dei Lanzi. Eating and drinking in the rooms is forbidden, so the café is the one place inside for a drink. A Baby Pit-Stop for feeding and changing is inside the café until 6 p.m.

Toilets are on every floor, all with accessible cubicles; changing tables are in the basement toilets by the entrance and on the Lanzi staircase mezzanine, and there is another accessible toilet in the bookshop by the exit. There is a small bookshop at the entrance and a larger one at the ground-floor exit.

Rules inside: photos, phones, dress and children

Photography for personal use is allowed without flash, tripods or selfie sticks. The museum’s current visitor map also asks you not to record video. Phones go on silent and calls are not allowed in the rooms. There is no church-style dress code: the rule asks for clothing appropriate to a museum and names swimwear, skimpy clothing, wedding dresses and fancy dress as inappropriate; walking barefoot or bare-chested is forbidden, and shorts are not mentioned.

Under-18s enter free with ID but still need a named ticket; under-12s must be with an adult. Pushchairs are allowed inside if not oversized and cannot be left in the cloakroom, and a spill-proof cup for a small child is fine; large child-carrier backpacks are not, though a front carrier is. Family tours are on our kids and families page.

Accessibility, leaving and the 6.30 call

The accessible entrance is Door 1 under the colonnade, reached by a ramp from Via della Ninna; wheelchairs and walkers are lent free there against an ID, without booking. Lifts reach both floors; very large or heavy wheelchairs (over 120 cm, or 230 kg with the user) are not admitted. Visitors with a certified disability and one companion enter free, with priority, and need no reservation.

Your ticket is good for one entry. Once through security there is no going back out for a forgotten jacket or a coffee in the square. At 6.30 p.m. visitors are asked to make their way to the exit.

The Uffizi Gallery Timed Entry Ticket + App Audioguide ($38, 4.5 from 1,322 reviews) is a timed entry with an audio-guide app; the slot is binding and the ticket is non-refundable, and reviewers occasionally report the app failing, so download it on Wi-Fi beforehand. For a live guide, the Renaissance Masterpieces Guided Tour ($84, 4.6 from 6,122 reviews) is a 1½-hour guided visit that includes a luggage deposit at the operator’s office.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the entrance to the Uffizi Gallery?

The entrance is under the east loggia of the Piazzale degli Uffizi, the side nearer Via della Ninna, with the ticket office beside it. The official map numbers it Door 1 and marks it as the accessible entrance. Reserved and walk-up visitors use separate signposted lines, so follow the sign for your ticket.

Do I have to leave my backpack at the Uffizi?

Yes. Backpacks, bags beyond handbag size and large umbrellas go to the cloakroom just inside the entrance, free for bags under 55 × 40 × 20 cm and €2 for suitcases. If you leave something there, exit by the main ground-floor route; the Lanzi staircase exit does not lead back to it.

Is there a dress code at the Uffizi?

Not a strict one. The rule asks for clothing appropriate to a museum; swimwear, skimpy clothing, wedding dresses and fancy dress are named as inappropriate, and walking barefoot or bare-chested is forbidden. Shorts are not mentioned. The church-style rules about covered shoulders and knees do not apply here.

Can I leave the Uffizi and come back in?

No. A ticket allows a single entry and cannot be reused, and staff may ask to see it at any point. Plan toilet and café stops inside; the only café is on the second floor, which you pass before the first-floor rooms.

How long does a visit to the Uffizi take?

The museum’s own routes are 1½ to 2 hours for the second floor only, more than 2 hours adding Titian and Caravaggio on the first floor, and more than 3 hours for everything. A reserved ticket has no time limit inside, but the galleries close at 6.30 p.m.

Related reading

Timed-entry tickets without a guide are compared on our Uffizi tickets page.

What to expect at the Uffizi Gallery, from the courtyard to the exit