Italian for museums and sightseeing

32 phrases · 4 stops · press a line to turn it over

A day of sightseeing in Italy runs on a handful of questions: what it costs, when it opens, how long the queue is and whether you can take a photo. Ask for due biglietti at the desk and the rest of the day follows from there.

Every phrase here comes from Verba’s ticket machine, where you hear it, read it and choose what it means. At the bottom of the page there is a ticket of five to try.

01At the ticket desk

02Times and queues

03Inside

04Churches and views

On the back of the ticket

Book the big ones ahead: The Uffizi, the Accademia, the Vatican Museums and the Last Supper in Milan sell timed tickets online, and in summer the day’s slots go early. With a booking you use a separate entrance and skip the long line; ask where it is with ho prenotato online.
Shoulders and knees: Churches still ask for covered shoulders and no short shorts, and at the busiest ones someone at the door checks. A light scarf in a bag solves it. During mass visitors are usually asked to wait or stay at the back.
Ridotto and free Sundays: Un biglietto ridotto is a reduced ticket, often for young EU citizens or students; bring an ID card. State museums are free on the first Sunday of the month, which is lovely for the price and very busy for the same reason. Many museums close on Mondays.

Biglietto · Try it

What does it mean?

Question 1 of 5: Due biglietti per il museo.

Verba prints lessons like these as train tickets out of Florence, and Selene, its AI tutor, talks them through with you out loud.