Most of my posts wax poetically over the wonders of life in Florence or Italy in general.  And, there are many beautiful things about living on the peninsula.

But, there are some annoying drawbacks too, as anyone with experience can tell you.  I thought I’d mention one that has been on my mind.

According to documents you can find on the internet, Italy has an open for free policy on the first Sunday of the month for certain museums.  Fortunately, I am at a time in life when a 10 Euro entrance fee doesn’t decide for me whether or not I visit a museum, but when you hear about a free day and decide to take advantage of it, you expect the state museum to be opened as promised.

After consulting my handy-dandy list of which museums in Florence constitute a “state museum,” I discovered that two candidates for last Sunday would be the museum of San Marco and the Bargello.  I had read that the policy of free first Sundays had been changed to only the months of October through March, and I thought I had the whole thing figured out and could pay a quick visit for free to San Marco.

When I arrived at the door to the museum part of San Marco on Sunday, March 1, which was obviously the first Monday of the month,  I was greeted by a door bolted shut and a sign on the door that said the Museum is closed on the first, third and some other Sunday of every month.

So much for San Marco being a candidate for a free visit the first Sunday.

So, I headed for the Bargello.  Incidentally, I had read the Google Map app that the Bargello was closed on March 1, and I wondered if that was because of the coronavirus scare (I read the the Louvre was closed for this reason) or if maybe the museum was actually open despite what the app said.

When I arrived at the entrance to the Bargello, primed for my free visit, I encountered another bolted door and a temporary sign:

This drenched paper states that the Bargello has suspended the free Sunday visits as of March 1, 2020.  It further states that the museum will be open but at the regular cost.  But then, the museum was closed.

Chissa? E’ Italia! Welcome to my world!