Museo Galileo
Globes, telescopes, early clocks and a great deal of brass, in a small museum next to the Uffizi that children get through in an hour.
- Area
- Santa Croce
- Address
- Piazza dei Giudici 1
- Where
- Piazza dei Giudici, beside the Uffizi
- Time
- About an hour
- Checked
- August 2026
- Price
- €€
- Go for
- Globes, telescopes and early clocks, including two of Galileo's own instruments, in a museum small enough to finish in an hour.
- Skip if
- You want interactive exhibits. This is a collection of objects, not a science centre.
What everybody agrees on
Read across public reviews on Google and TripAdvisor in September 2026, where it is one of the higher rated museums in the city.
- Most
It is small and finishes before anyone tires, which reviewers name as its main advantage over the big galleries.
- Most
Galileo's surviving instruments are the objects people come for.
- Often
The video guides explain what each instrument was for, and this is what makes the collection work for people without a science background.
- Often
There is rarely a queue, despite being next door to the Uffizi.
- Some
Children under about six get less from it than the age guidance suggests.
What to order
Start on the upper floor and work down. The instruments get older as you descend and the collection reads better in that direction.
Before you go
- Getting there
- Piazza dei Giudici, two minutes from Piazza della Signoria.
- Time needed
- An hour, ninety minutes with the guides.
- Best for
- Six and up.
A collection of scientific instruments rather than a hands-on science centre, but the objects are strange enough to work on their own and the video guides explain what each one was for. Galileo’s own telescopes are here.
Small, which is the point. It ends before anybody has had enough, which is not something you can say about most museums in this city.