Medici Chapels Tickets

• See the beautiful Medici Tombs with the Michelangelo's sculptures
• Admire the Chapel of the Princes
• Skip the line and don't waste your time
• Once entered, spend inside the museum all the time you want

Museum

Behind the church of San Lorenzo, the Medici Chapels Museum consists of the Medici Crypt, the Chapel of the Princes and Michelangelo’s New Sacristy. Along with the sculptural and architectural decorations, the museum displays the Treasure of the San Lorenzo Basilica: reliquaries and liturgical objects, great examples of Renaissance and Baroque goldsmith’s art.

History

The vast Crypt, where the members of the Medici family are buried, leads to the Chapel of the Princes, which houses the grandiose funerary monuments of the Medici Grand Dukes of Tuscany. It is an octagonal hall, wholly covered with semi-precious stones and rare marbles inlays, topped by a wide frescoed dome. Works started in 1604 by the architect Matteo Nigetti and went on for over two centuries. The rich inlaid decoration was made by the grand ducal workshops, joint together to form the Opificio delle Pietre Dure (Semi-precious Stones Workshop).

At the wishes of the Medici Popes, Leo X and Clement VII, Michelangelo worked to decorate the New Sacristy between 1520 and 1534, in successive stages. The architecture and the sculptural decoration, including funerary monuments of members of the Medici family, were designed and begun by Michelangelo before he went to Rome. The New Sacristy was carried out and arranged as we see today by Giorgio Vasari and Bartolomeo Ammannati.

Masterpieces

Chapel of the Princes:

The sarcophagi of six Medici Grand Dukes are located against the walls of the big octagon; above the one of the Grand Duke Ferdinando I and the one of Cosimo II, within niches, we found two colossal gilded bronze statues, cast by Pietro and Ferdinando Tacca between 1626 and 1642. Below, sixteen coats of arms of Tuscan towns, made of semi-precious stones, mother of pearl, lapis-lazuli and coral.

New Sacristy:

• Michelangelo, tombs of Lorenzo Duke of Urbino and Giuliano Duke of Nemours with the symbolical figures (Day and Night, Dawn and Dusk)
• Michelangelo, Madonna and Child, on the tomb of Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano.

The following options can be purchased in addition to the tickets in the booking Wizard on this website.

Reduced/Half Ticket:

• European Community citizens between 18 and 25 years old (valid identity document needed at the entrance)

Free Ticket (it is still required to pay the presale to skip the line) :

• EU and not EU citizens under 18 years old (valid identity document needed at the entrance)

• Temporary and permanent teachers of Italian public and private schools equipped with the appropriate documentation issued by MIUR

• Any handicapped person accompanied by the certificate of disability and the escort

1. The ticket is valid all day until closing time of the Chapels starting from entrance time.

2. The entrance time written on the tickets may be subject to small changes depending on the actual availability of the Chapels.

3. For a satisfying experience it is recommended to reserve at least 1 hour to visit the Chapels.

4. The tickets will be sent via email within 24-48 hours after purchase (on weekdays) with instructions on how to get there and what to do to enter.

5. We inform you that, once booked, the date and time selected are binding. Please pick up your ticket at least 15 minutes before the reserved entrance. Who does not respect the time booked will not enter. To pick up the audio guide, you need a valid ID.

6. The Chapels have a maximum capacity of people, in some periods of the year or special days you may experience short delays or waits not dependent on the Chapels or Italy Tickets.