Santa Maria Novella Florence tickets: prices, hours and what to see

Santa Maria Novella Florence tickets open one of the city’s most underrated complexes, two minutes from the station: the official fare is €7.50, hours differ between weekdays and Sundays, and inside are Ghirlandaio’s frescoes in the Tornabuoni Chapel and Paolo Uccello’s Green Cloister. This page covers tickets, prices and hours, and clearly separates the basilica and museum from the Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica, which is a different business.

Santa Maria Novella tickets: prices and where to buy

The Opera’s price list (smn.it): full €7.50, reduced €5 (ages 11–17). Free entry for under-11s, City of Florence residents with ID, disabled visitors plus a companion, clergy, licensed Italian guides, ICOM members and journalists. Booking online adds €1. Special events in the basilica only cost €12.

There is no real “skip the line” here: the station area is busy, but the ticket queue is rarely a problem. Booking online helps if you want an audioguide or a ticket on your phone the moment you step off the train.

Hours: check the day of the week

Hours apply all year, but they differ by day:

• Monday–Thursday: 9:00–17:30
• Friday and civil holidays: 11:00–17:30
• Saturday and the eve of religious holidays: 9:00–17:00
• Sunday and religious holidays: 13:00–17:00
• Last entry: 1 hour before closing
• Closed to visitors: Good Friday and Holy Saturday
• Holidays on Sunday hours: 1 and 6 January, 15 August, 1 November, 8 December, 25 December, Easter

The Opera also announces occasional early closings (for example 16:15 on 4 October and 14:30 on 15 October): check smn.it/avvisi before you set out. Opening on 25 December can differ from the city’s other museums, so check the holiday notice.

On Friday, do not plan Santa Maria Novella as a 9:00 first stop; on Sunday and religious holidays it opens only in the afternoon. Use those mornings for the Duomo and Baptistery, or for museums that open early (the Bargello, the Accademia if booked, San Marco).

Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica: not the museum

The Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella (Via della Scala 16) is a private shop with free entry. It is not run by the Opera, is not included in the ticket, and its hours are not published on smn.it, so do not ask the basilica’s ticket desk. If you want the historic pharmacy and its perfumes, go straight to Via della Scala without a museum ticket; if you want Ghirlandaio and Uccello, buy your ticket at Piazza della Stazione 5. Mixing up the two addresses is the most common mistake for visitors arriving at the station.

What to see in the complex

The ticket covers the basilica and the museum route:

1. Tornabuoni Chapel — Ghirlandaio’s Stories of the Virgin and of St John the Baptist, full of portraits of Florence’s banking families inside a sacred setting.
2. Strozzi Chapel — more frescoes in a quieter space; a good follow-on.
3. Green Cloister — Paolo Uccello’s Genesis scenes, including the Flood; the cloister light helps you read the greens and the perspective.
4. Spanish Chapel — frescoes by Andrea di Bonaiuto, often the surprise for visitors who came for Alberti’s façade.
5. Great Cloister, Dormitory, Refectory, Ubriachi Chapel — to complete the visit if you have 90–120 minutes.

Allow 60 minutes for the basilica, the Tornabuoni Chapel and the Green Cloister; 90–120 minutes for the full route. With only 45 minutes, see the Tornabuoni Chapel and the Green Cloister and glance into the Spanish Chapel. As a place of worship it requires covered shoulders and legs. Photos are allowed with respect for worship; avoid flash during services.

Groups and earphones

The Opera’s rules: max 25 people + 1 guide. For groups of 6 or more, earphone systems are mandatory and must be arranged before entry. Some B-ticket pages mention a “15+1” limit, but the Opera’s own rules on smn.it prevail.

Getting there and luggage

As you leave Firenze Santa Maria Novella station you are already on the square; the ticket entrance is at Piazza della Stazione 5. That makes it an ideal first stop on arrival or last stop before a train. Do not bring large suitcases into the cloisters: use the KiPoint left-luggage office in the station or luggage storage nearby. From here, the Duomo is 10–12 minutes on foot via Via de’ Panzani and Via de’ Cerretani.

Firenze Card, residents and civic museums

The Firenze Card is accepted. City of Florence residents enter free with ID; there is no resident discount on the ordinary price lists of the Novecento or the Brancacci Chapel. The Card del Fiorentino (€10 for 365 days, metropolitan-area residents only) includes Santa Maria Novella and other civic sites: useful for locals, not for visitors.

Itinerary from the station

Morning arrival: drop your luggage → Santa Maria Novella (9:00 Monday–Thursday) → walk to the Duomo. On Friday go in after 11:00; on Sunday after 13:00. If you arrive in the evening and leave the next day, try dinner at Mercato Centrale and Santa Maria Novella at opening. On the same square, the Museo Novecento (20th-century art, closed Thursday) makes a good pairing after the frescoes. Santa Maria Novella also works as an inexpensive warm-up before a Duomo visit.

Comparing offers

At €7.50 the official ticket is one of the cheapest in the centre. The Tiqets ticket with audioguide (about €14.50–€15.50) and the GetYourGuide equivalent suit visitors who want commentary without a human guide, especially without a guidebook and without Italian. They are not worth it if you are a resident (free) or already on a walking tour that includes the complex.

Common mistakes

• Walking in through the façade expecting free entry, as in the Duomo nave: here you need a ticket.
• Booking “the Officina” thinking it is an included museum visit.
• Arriving on Sunday morning: visitors are admitted only from the afternoon.
• Bringing a group of 6 or more without earphones.
• Stopping at the façade: the main works are inside.

Nearby

• Duomo — 10–12 minutes on foot.
• Palazzo Strozzi — temporary exhibitions in the centre.
• Mercato Centrale — food hall and historic stalls toward San Lorenzo.
• Other museums — Novecento, Galileo, Innocenti.

In short

Santa Maria Novella Florence tickets are inexpensive (€7.50), the entrance is steps from the station, and you get Ghirlandaio and Uccello without Uffizi-style pressure. Bring ID if you qualify for a reduction, cover your shoulders, check the hours for your day of the week and the smn.it notices, and remember the Officina is a separate shop. Use the widget for dates and audioguide tickets. We are an independent guide: if you book through our Tiqets or GetYourGuide links we may earn a commission; the price you pay does not change.