Amici degli Uffizi / Friends of the Uffizi Firenze, Italia / Florence, Italy

Amici degli Uffizi is a membership to the state museums of Florence.  The money raised for the membership is used to restore and maintain the artwork.  For a single person, the membership cost is 60 euro; for a family of up to four, the cost is 100 euro; and for a student under the age of 26, the cost is 40 euro for a calendar year membership. At an average museum entrance fee of 10 to 15 euros, it takes only a handful of visits to the museum before your Friends of the Uffizi membership pays for itself. If you live in Florence or nearby, you will definitely get your money's worth.  If you plan to be on vacation for longer than even a few days in Florence -- well, you do the math. 

Your membership buys you unlimited entrance to the state museums in Florence:

• Uffizi Gallery
• Accademia Gallery
• The Pitti Palace (several different museums within the Pitti with individual admissions)
• Bargello Museum (one of my favorite museums)
• Museum of  the Medici Chapels
• Museum of Palazzo Davanzati
• Museum of San Marco
• Garden of the Medici Villa of Costello
• Medici Villa of Petraia
• Medici Villa of Poggio a Caiano
• Medici Villa of Cerreto Guidi & Historical Hunting and Territorial Museum
• Cenacoli of Ognisanti, Andrea del Sarto, Fuligno, and Sant'Apollonia
• Cloister of the Scalzo
• Church and museum of Orsanmichele
• Boboli Gardens
• Bardini Gardens

Only at two museums in Florence does everyone who knows advise paying the additional 4,50 euro reservation fee for a designated entrance time, which saves you from waiting in line a few hours. With your membership, you walk to the appropriate door and get your ticket and enter when you want, no reservation necessary.  

Go to the Friends of the Uffizi office at the Uffizi Museum or go to the website to buy your membership.

Two wonderful gardens in Florence are included in the membership:  Boboli and Bardini.  Both are literally in my backyard, only a few steps from my home.  Oh, and up that steep hill behind my house. I can enter either of the two gardens.  Great news for me, as I spend too many hours in front of my computer, and yet I crave sunlight, greenery, and the outdoors.

I share with you the info, but please don't take my bench.

My seat to enjoy the surrounding beauty, especially as the days get warmer and longer.

The Grotto, Boboli Gardens

No surprise, perhaps, that I bought for myself an amazing gift at the turn of the new year.  Now, with membership card in hand, I can pop into a museum to see a particular painting, room, or exhibit as I fancy.  Or visit the two gardens.  I can return again and again to my heart's content.  And I will.  Look for me sitting on the bench pictured above.

Self-portraits

Autoritratto translates to self-portrait.  Through January 30, 2011, a rare and interesting art exhibition is going on at the Galleria degli Uffizzi, Sala delle Reali Poste, in Florence, Italy, called "Autoritratte: Artiste di Capriccioso e Destrissimo Ingeno," (Women Artists of Wit and Great Ingenuity).  It is a collection of sixty women artists' self-portraits ranging from the 16th century to present day. The Uffizi Gallery has a collection of 1,700 self-portraits. Only 100 are by women artists.  Entrance is gratis.

Will you see the exhibit?

Not Halloween

Tonight might be Halloween in America and other parts of the world. But in Italy, it is just another day. However, it is a long weekend because tomorrow, November 1, is Ognisanti or Tutti i Santi (All Saints' Day). It is a religious holiday celebrating all known and unknown saints. And the day after tomorrow is All Souls' Day, which commemorates the departed who have attained the beatific vision.

So for Italians it is a long weekend, and the streets are packed with local tourists from the south and elsewhere.

Look at all those people waiting to get into the Uffizi! That is why I recommend making a reservation in advance. Think about all the gelato you would miss out on if you spent hours waiting to enter the museum. With a reservation, you just walk in to the museum at your reserved time.

Last night we turned our clocks back an hour, and this weekend officially marks the beginning of the holiday season. From now until early January, there will be one holiday after another. What I remember from last year was the challenge in keeping up with which days I needed to shop in advance of the closure of stores and for how many days in advance did I need to plan if I wanted to eat each and every one of those days. Obviously, I don't like to miss my meals. Coming from America, I was in shock when there were a couple weeks where everything was closed five days in a row, then they would open for two days, and then close again.

Maybe I should consider taking up canning ... like right now.