We had one full, very busy day in Florence on our recent trip to Italy, and towards the very end of our afternoon, we decided to head over to the Pitti Palace to check out some (more) Baroque Art. The Pitti Palace is a massive museum south of the river, and is very impressive. The most impressive part to me, however, was how NOT busy it was on a sunny summer afternoon in Florence. We arrived around 3pm without having purchased tickets in advance, and there was no one in line to buy tickets at that time. We had no idea we would make it here, so we didn’t buy a bundled ticket with the Uffizi Gallery, but if you are visiting both museums within 5 days, I would recommend getting the combo ticket which is 40 Euros.

Turns out, showing up without a ticket, this time, saved us money! Pre-purchase tickets are 19 Euros, but buying on the day of was only 16. Children under 18 are free, but, as with most museums in Italy, you absolutely must have proof of age with you. Note that there are a bunch of different areas to this former Medici Grand Ducal residence, but the area where most of the paintings we were interested in were in the Palatine Gallery.We, unfortunately, didn’t have time for the Royal Apartments or the Modern Art area. Next time!

The Palatine Gallery really reminded me of the Doria Pamphilij Gallery in Rome – gobs of paintings adorning every inch of every wall with virtually no explanations, with somewhat trash lighting and glare, even on the more important paintings. Perhaps we should have gotten the audioguide too!? The space itself, though, was richly appointed, and you could feel the Medici’s power and money oozing out of every ornate piece of molding or furnishing.

We did manage to find two of the three Caravaggios, as one was out on loan.

I also discovered a stunning Murillo Madonna with Child, and he’s becoming my second favorite Baroque artist these days.

The Pitti Palace is massive, and definitely deserves more than the one hour we were able to spend here. Indeed, you could spend at least half a day wandering around these historic halls of power. I look forward to a return visit to give this museum the time it deserves.