Accademia Gallery
Opening Hours

What You Need to Know About Accademia Gallery Opening Hours

The Accademia Gallery is open from 8:15 am to 6:50 pm. The last admission is always thirty minutes before closing time; in this case, the last entrance is at 6:20 in the evening. The ticket counter also closes at 6:20. Visitors may see the collections Tuesday through Sunday as the museum is closed on Mondays. In addition to Mondays, the museum also closes for two holidays: January 1st (New Year’s Day) and December 25th (Christmas Day).

The average visitor spends between 45 to 90 minutes in the museum. If you are planning to visit any other museums or make another appointment on the day you intend to visit the Accademia, please keep in mind how long you think you will stop to appreciate each individual work of art. If you intend to purchase your ticket for the Accademia online, please remember that b-Ticket is the only official online retailer of Accademia Gallery tickets.

During peak tourism season, it is highly recommended you pre-book your tickets. Otherwise, you may be at risk of spending three times more time waiting in line at the ticket counter than you will inside the actual museum. During low season, and especially on weekdays, it is possible to walk right up to the ticket booth and enter the museum without waiting for more than a few minutes in line.

What is the Best Time to Visit Accademia Gallery?

Do not let the question of “when is the best time to visit?” stop you from visiting the Accademia Gallery and seeing David in person. However, if you have a flexible schedule, please consider the following advice. The Accademia, understandably, gets very busy (read: crowded) throughout the day. Every tourist wants to see Michelangelo’s David. If you want to avoid the crowds and get the most precise view of the artwork, try to book your ticket time for the cap ends of the opening hours.

For the visitor that expects to rush through the museum and, truth be told, only wants to see David and has little interest in the artwork, a later time would be ideal. Due to the layout of the museum, the hall housing Michelangelo’s David is one of the first things you will see. If that is the only thing you want to see, an entrance time before 6 pm is not entirely necessary. Aim to have a ticket into the museum towards the end of the opening hours.

As long as you make the “last entry” threshold, you will have plenty of time to appreciate David and quickly walk through the other exhibits if you would like before the museum closes. An early entrance time would be recommended for the avid art fan with a long list of artwork they are excited to see in the Accademia.

First in line means first to see the works of Michelangelo. Yes, that may mean waking up especially early to be at the museum doors right at 8:15 in the morning, but a clear, unobstructed view of David in all his splendor is worth the lost Z’s. There are many cafes near the Gallery from which you can quickly grab a cornetto and a cappuccino before the doors open. Be one of the first visitors to the museum, and you will have little competition for the best photography angles. Fewer people will crowd around the Prisoners, the model of the Rape of the Sabine Women, and the Palestrina Pietà.

The halls of the Accademia are long and thin, making squeezing between fellow visitors quite difficult at busy hours. Avoid the hassle of snaking between tourists by arriving before the majority, right at the start of the opening hours.

Weekdays & Weekends

What difference is there between weekdays and weekends in museum attendance? During high tourism season, honestly, not much. By the numbers, weekends will always be busier than weekdays. However, from a visitor’s standpoint, there will not be much noticeable difference. Crowded is still crowded. International tourists likely see no difference between Wednesday and Saturday; a vacation is a vacation.

The individual days of the week don’t matter when you are not commuting to work. Italian visitors are more likely to visit on a weekend when they are not working, but their added attendance is barely perceivable to the average visitor during peak tourism season.

The difference between weekdays and weekends is more noticeable during the slow season. When international tourism slows down during the academic year, weekdays are the best day to visit. On an average Saturday in November, a museum visitor can expect to see whole Italian families appreciating the art without the hustle and bustle of myriad international tourists. A few days later, though, a visitor can walk right up to the ticket counter on Tuesday without waiting in any lines. The first Sunday of the month is another conversation entirely.

FREE Entrance on the first Sunday of the month

This applies to more than just the Accademia Gallery. Many famous museums in Florence have free entrance on the first Sunday of the month. Italians and international tourists flock to the museum doors for FREE viewing of the masterworks of Michelangelo and other famous names. To ensure fairness for all patrons, no pre-booking of tickets is allowed on this day. The tickets are all first come, first served. In effect, this means that the lines at the ticket counter will be longer than ever. If you are willing to camp out and wait, this is an excellent opportunity to save some extra money for an Aperol spritz after your museum visit.

However, the long wait will cut hours out of your day that could have been spent sightseeing instead. We shall leave it up to you to decide if the FREE ticket is worth the long wait. In short, weekdays will always be less crowded than weekends. Nevertheless, don’t expect the museum to be empty on a Tuesday during peak tourism season.

High & Low Seasons

After all, is said and done, how does one define the seasons of tourism? The high season is, more or less, the summer season, when schools are out of session and families have more time to travel. The low season is, by process of elimination, autumn, winter, and spring – or, more simply, the months in which students are in school. Because every school district runs on a slightly different schedule, let’s just say the high tourism season is May, June, July, August, and September.

The low season is the months between October and April. Travelling during the high season has its advantages and disadvantages. If you have children, travelling during February likely means taking your child out of school for a short period; taking a vacation in July will not require a conversation with their teacher. The weather during the high season is warmer, less rainy, and generally more pleasant for outdoor sightseeing. On the downside, however, ticket prices do change between the tourism seasons. Most places, including the Gallery, hike up their prices during peak tourism season. And, as is implied by the term “high tourism season,” there are far more tourists during the high season, meaning more crowds and longer waits.

Visiting the museum during the low tourism season is advisable if feasible for the visitor. The outdoor weather might not be quite as agreeable, but the prices are lowered, the crowds lessen, and the views of the incredible art become less obstructed.