Tight security in store at Italy’s major tourism sights

  • By Rick Steves
  • Friday, January 15, 2016 11:09am
  • Life

Italy may be the cradle of the Renaissance, but lately it’s been feeling like a work in progress. Travelers in the last few seasons have been finding cultural treasures buried behind scaffolding or removed from view because of ambitious renovation schemes. The good news is that many of these projects are winding down. Here is the latest for traveling smart in Italy in 2016:

First, pack a little extra patience. Expect tight security at the big sights throughout Italy. Even with reservations or sightseeing passes in hand, crowds are basically unavoidable at major destinations in peak season. Crowding at state museums is now especially bad on the first Sunday of the month, when admission is free and reservations aren’t accepted. Avoid visits on free days to top museums like Florence’s Uffizi Gallery and Naples’ National Archaeological Museum.

In Florence, visitors with advance reservations or the Firenze Card sightseeing pass can skip the ticket-buying line (but you’ll still have to get through security-check bottlenecks). At the Uffizi, there may be a queue to pick up your reservation, another 30-minute wait to enter, and then a slow shuffle through security — and that’s with a reservation or a Firenze Card.

At Florence’s Duomo, the big news is the reopening of the completely revamped Duomo Museum, whose masterpieces (such as Ghiberti’s bronze doors) once adorned the adjoining cathedral, baptistery, and bell tower. New themed tours at the Duomo (which cost about $40) include a visit to the north terrace of the cathedral (otherwise not accessible to the public), an opportunity to watch contemporary stonemasons chiseling away in the Duomo workshop, and an up-close look at the baptistery’s glittering mosaics.

Florence’s Uffizi Gallery is still undergoing its massive, years-long renovation to improve security, lighting, and climate controls. Most recently, the Early Renaissance rooms — the first rooms that visitors enter — have reopened. Whenever you visit, you can expect that some works will have shifted to new locations or have been temporarily removed from view. The building may be centuries old, but the top two floors are now covered by a free Wi-Fi network.

On Florence’s Piazza S.S. Annunziata, the Brunelleschi-designed Hospital of the Innocents now houses a new museum, Museo degli Innocenti. It tells the story of the Renaissance-era institution devoted to the care and protection of children, with exhibits focusing on the infants left at the “wheel of the innocents” — a sort of lazy Susan that allowed the destitute to abandon their babies anonymously.

Always crowded Rome will be particularly jammed this year. Pope Francis has declared 2016 to be a special Jubilee Holy Year, and the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica will be open (it’s usually only opened once every 25 years). Expect plenty of pilgrims and some extra security precautions at St. Peter’s.

With the ever-present crowds at the Vatican Museums these days, advance reservations are a must. But if you haven’t planned ahead, you can often get priority-entry tickets at the tourist office in St. Peter’s Square or in the basilica’s foyer.

One of the biggest disappointments for visitors to Rome in recent years has been finding the Trevi Fountain under renovation. Emptied of water and laddered with scaffolding, it could be viewed only by shuffling through a quick-moving queue on a narrow platform. But the renovation has been completed, Neptune is surfing through his wet kingdom again, and tourists are tossing coins into the fountain to ensure they’ll return to Rome. That may sound silly, but every year I go through this ritual … and it actually seems to work.

All that restoration work was paid for by Fendi, the Rome-based fashion house. Other luxury brands have followed suit: the jeweler Bulgari is paying to re-level the 18th-century Spanish Steps, and the leather outfitter Tod’s is financing the ongoing refurbishment of the Colosseum.

In the Cinque Terre, the hiking trails linking Italy’s five cutest towns are finally beginning to reopen (five years after a flash rainstorm caused devastating flooding). The trail from Monterosso to Vernazza is officially open; the trail from Vernazza to Corniglia is passable but officially closed, and the trail from Corniglia to Manarola and Riomaggiore (the famed Via dell’Amore) is closed and impassable for now — but expected to reopen by summer 2016.

&Copy;2016 Rick Steves. Distributed By Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Life

Sarah Jean Muncey-Gordon puts on some BITCHSTIX lip oil at Bandbox Beauty Supply on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, in Langley, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Bandbox Beauty was made for Whidbey Island locals, by an island local

Founder Sarah Muncey-Gordon said Langley is in a renaissance, and she’s proud to be a part of it.

A stroll on Rome's ancient Appian Way is a kind of time travel. (Cameron Hewitt)
Rick Steves on the Appian Way, Rome’s ancient superhighway

Twenty-nine highways fanned out from Rome, but this one was the first and remains the most legendary.

Byrds co-founder Roger McGuinn, seen here in 2013, will perform April 20 in Edmonds. (Associated Press)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

R0ck ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famer Roger McGuinn, frontman of The Byrds, plans a gig in Edmonds in April.

Mother giving in to the manipulation her daughter fake crying for candy
Can children be bribed into good behavior?

Only in the short term. What we want to do is promote good habits over the course of the child’s life.

Speech Bubble Puzzle and Discussion
When conflict flares, keep calm and stand your ground

Most adults don’t like dissension. They avoid it, try to get around it, under it, or over it.

The colorful Nyhavn neighborhood is the place to moor on a sunny day in Copenhagen. (Cameron Hewitt)
Rick Steves: Embrace hygge and save cash in Copenhagen

Where else would Hans Christian Andersen, a mermaid statue and lovingly decorated open-face sandwiches be the icons of a major capital?

Last Call is a festured artist at the 2024 DeMiero Jazz Festival: in Edmonds. (Photo provided by DeMiero Jazz Festival)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Jazz ensemble Last Call is one of the featured artists at the DeMiero Jazz Festival on March 7-9 in Edmonds.

Kim Helleren
Local children’s author to read at Edmonds Bookshop

Kim Helleren will read from one of her books for kids at the next monthly Story Time at Edmonds Bookshop on March 29.

Chris Elliott
Lyft surprises traveler with a $150 cleaning charge

Jared Hakimi finds a $150 charge on his credit card after a Lyft ride. Is that allowed? And will the charge stick?

Inside Elle Marie Hair Studio in Smokey Point. (Provided by Acacia Delzer)
The best hair salon in Snohomish County

You voted, we tallied. Here are the results.

The 2024 Kia EV9 electric SUV has room for up to six or seven passengers, depending on seat configuration. (Photo provided by Kia)
Kia’s all-new EV9 electric SUV occupies rarified air

Roomy three-row electric SUVs priced below 60 grand are scarce.

2023 Toyota RAV4 Prime XSE Premium AWD (Photo provided by Toyota)
2023 Toyota RAV4 Prime XSE Premium AWD

The compact SUV electric vehicle offers customers the ultimate flexibility for getting around town in zero emission EV mode or road-tripping in hybrid mode with a range of 440 miles and 42 mile per gallon fuel economy.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.