Palazzo Vecchio, Palazzo Pitti and Boboli gardens private tour

This is a 4 hours tour designed for those who love the history of Florence and the Medici dinasty. It includes two of the most popular museums of Florence: Palazzo Vecchio and Palazzo Pitti where the Medici family lived for long time and the astonishing Boboli gardens. 

Meet your official guide at the lobby of your centrally located hotel and start the tour from there.

The first museum that you'll visit is Palazzo Vecchio: it has been the center of Florence's civic power for more than seven centuries and houses the town hall. The striking building was built in the early 1300s, it dominates Piazza della Signoria and was decorated by the ruling Medici family in the 16th century when they lived there. You’ll see decorated ceilings, frescoes by Vasari and statues by Donatello and Michelangelo. See the mysterious symbols and artworks that inspired Dan Brown’s novel ‘Inferno’ (and the film of the same name), such as an inscription ‘Cerca e Trova’ (‘Seek and you shall find’) written atop a fresco by Giorgio Vasari. Learn about the building’s transformation from a medieval town hall into the private residence of Duke Cosimo I before the famous ruling family relocated to the city’s Palazzo Pitti.

After Palazzo Vecchio, walk with your guide in direction of Palazzo Pitti, admire Ponte Vecchio and hear the history of the long Vasari Corridor, the walkway designed to offer secrecy and protection to the Florentine rulers.

Next, reach the Oltrarno district, the place where many locals live and where you finally see the imposing Palazzo Pitti, last residence of the Medici family and one of the most insightful visits you can enjoy in Florence.

This amazing museum has something for everyone: it was the Medici family Residence combined with gardens and a spectacularly beautiful art gallery, lavish rooms and views. Pitti Palace now houses several museums and a fine collection of paintings.

During the tour you'll visit Boboli gardens, the prototype of the Italian Formal Garden, no wonder it was recently added to the list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Boboli is decorated with fountains, statues creating a real open-air museum with stunning view of Florence.

Then you have the opportunity to see the Palatine Gallery wich isn't an Academic museum, the layout preserves the character of a private picture gallery, the paintings are arranged to fit the space and the room’s decorations, revealing the tastes of the great collectors who lived in the palace. The paintings, which are sumptuously framed, cover the walls of the rooms in the style of traditional baroque galleries, following neither chronological order nor schools of painting. This peculiar arrangement brings the time of the Medici’s to life, like an incredible trompe-l’oeil fresco, transporting us in another time.

The tour ends inside Palazzo Pitti, where you can stay until closing time visiting the other museums on your own.