Palazzo Vecchio with Tablet Video Guide and Roman Theater Archaeological Site

Discover Palazzo Vecchio and its underground, where a part of ancient Florence unknown to most awaits you...

Visit to Palazzo della Signoria, better known as Palazzo Vecchio - a symbol of the civil power of the city of Florence and the historical seat of the various governing bodies of the city-, and which owes its current structure to the great works of renovation and decoration of the interior to accommodate the Duchy of Cosimo I de Medici. The visit is supported by the Video Tablet Guide, and includes free access to the archaeological excavations hidden in the basement of the Palace.


Info & Booking

Visit to Palazzo della Signoria, better known as Palazzo Vecchio - a symbol of the civil power of the city of Florence and the historical seat of the various governing bodies of the city-, and which owes its current structure to the great works of renovation and decoration of the interior to accommodate the Duchy of Cosimo I de Medici. The visit is supported by the Video Tablet Guide, and includes free access to the archaeological excavations hidden in the basement of the Palace.

Excavation site is partially accessible to motor disabled persons (with companion); site is not accessible, for security reasons, to children under 8 years old.

The ticket includes access to the Museum with Video Tablet Guideand the excavations.

Cancellation Policy:
For cancellations once a confirmation code has been assigned to the reservation, and for no shows, we can refund cost of unused tickets minus service fee (reservation fee and online booking fee).

Videoguide Tablet for Palazzo Vecchio

Modern tablet, 7 inches long with headset, that can be picked up at the Info Point of the Museum of Palazzo Vecchio.

The tablet is provided for up to two hours, so the time of booking of the tablet will be calculated based on the time of booking of the selected combination. The tablet contains an explanation of the Monumental Quarters without Bianca Cappello Room

Characteristics:
- Interactive Map of the Palace
- 60 minutes of video contents available in 6 languages (English, Italian, Spanish, French, German and Russian).
- 3D reconstructions (including the Salone dei Cinquecento, the Green Room and The Room of Maps)
- Photo Gallery: 60 zoomable pictures in high resolution

Palazzo Vecchio with Video Tablet Guide & Roman Theater Archaeological Site

The Museum of Palazzo Vecchio

The visit begins in the Cortile di Michelozzo, the courtyard adorned with stuccoes and frescoes, and continues on the first floor with the Salone dei Cinquecento, where a majestic cycle of pictures celebrates the apotheosis of Cosimo de’ Medici and the city of Florence and a rich array of statues accompany Michelangelo’s celebrated victory. The second floor of the museum holds the private rooms of the Medici court, all sumptuously decorated and furnished. The magnificent private chapel (Cappella di Eleonora) is decorated with paintings by Agnolo Bronzino. Important testimonies of the Palazzo’s oldest decorations are kept in the Sala dell’Udienza and the Sala dei Gigli, where the original of Donatello’s Judith is also found. In the Sala delle Carte Geografiche, an exceptionally large globe and more than fifty painted panels provide an extraordinary glimpse at all the parts of the world known in the sixteenth century. The mezzanine floor houses the remarkable collection of paintings and sculptures from the Middle Ages and Renaissance left to the city of Florence by Charles Loeser.

 

The Roman theater of Florentia

The Roman theater of Florentia was originally designed to host 7,000 spectators. However, historians estimate that the theater was enlarged to host anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 audience members during the Imperial Age when the city was subject to magnificent urban restructuring.

The Roman theater of Florentia remained active until the fifth century, after which it was abandoned and forgotten -- buried by building projects and the expansion of Palazzo Vecchio. Its remains began to gradually re-surface in the nineteenth century, when Florence became the Kingdom of Italy’s capital in 1865. At this time, the city’s urban landscape was subject to a far-reaching series of modernization projects.


The vestiges of Roman theater of Florentia extend over a vast underground area under the Palazzo Vecchio and the Palazzo Gondi. Its auditorium faces the Piazza della Signoria, while its stage runs along the Via dei Leoni.

Through six years of archeological excavations, Florentia’s ancient theater has been uncovered.


The project sparked the re-discovery of several corridors or “burelle”, including the vomitorium (a central corridor that spectators used to access the theater). Additionally, the internal edge of the orchestra platform is now visible. Unlike in Greece, the orchestra space in Roman theater did not host the chorus but was instead reserved for the authorities.

Archaeologists also found a set of amphora used for food storage that had been broken and re-used for water drainage. These artifacts proved fundamental to historians who were consequently able to trace the construction of the “burelle” to the late first century or early second century AD.

It is likely that the theater’s original nucleus dates back to the Roman colony’s foundation at the end of the first century BC. The structure was probably enlarged later. Above the theater’s Imperial Roman remains, experts uncovered various stratifications, spotlighting medieval structures (12th – 14th centuries) including wells, dwelling foundations, and other buildings.

One such example is the street front of a building with medieval doors and pavement. It was included as part of the Palazzo della Signoria’s 16th century expansion toward the Via dei Gondi and the Via de’ Leoni.

Cancellation Policy

Once a confirmation code has been assigned to your reservation, we can refund the cost of unused tickets, also for no-shows, minus a service fee (reservation fee and online booking fee).

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