I always advise that people have the exact money ready when they go to pick up their reserved tickets - saves a lot of time and fumbling etc.

How much are the audio tours? The Uffizi site doesn't even metion them.

Are there third-party guided tours which will skip the queues? Any links to them?

I see a few but those are for groups and don't include entry.

albaaust - with what entity and on what phone number did you make the bookings that cost you that much money? That's outrageous - please share, won't you?

The organization of the museums is at www.firenzemusei.it and identifies itself on the site as (partial quote) "...Firenze Musei is a network of thirteen state museums in Florence (Accademia Gallery, Uffizi Gallery, Palatine Gallery, Silver Museum, Gallery of Modern Art and Costume Gallery, Medici Chapels, San Marco Museum, Bargello Museum, Cenacolo di Andrea del Sarto, Davanzati Museum, Boboli Gardens, Archaeological Museum, Museo dell'Opificio delle Pietre Dure)

It also says "...a telephone booking service allowing you to book a visit in any of the museums belonging to the group and avoid risking long queues at the Uffizi or Accademia galleries;" and lists opening hours and other good information like prices of admission, in English.

About the booking service it says:

"The booking service is available at the two information desks in the Pitti Palace and in the reception area of the New Uffizi, and via a telephone booking centre. The information and booking desks are open during the museum opening times (from Tuesday to Sunday, from 8.30 to 19.00); the telephone booking centre (+39 (0)55 294883) is open from Monday to Friday from 8.30 to 18.30 and on Saturdays from 8.30 to 12.30.
Visiting either of the two information desks or phoning the booking centre, you will receive free information on opening times, exhibitions, admission charges as well as being able to book a visit in any of the Firenze Musei museums.
There is a booking and advance sales charge of Euro 3.00. Booking will only be considered confirmed after payment has taken place.
Booking means reducing waiting times to the minimum, and avoiding the queues that often characterise a visit to major museums and gallerie".

This is the source, no middleman, no surcharges, this is the real deal. Hope this clarifies things.

WK

We just made reservations for April 2nd, using the phone number that Ira provided. (Thanks, Ira !) It took about 2 minutes, the operator spoke English, and we got the times that we wanted. Afterwards, I did check with our phone company about the cost of calls to Italy, since I want to call the hotels, etc. to confirm reservations. I found out that calls were $3.96 per minute. Yikes!! I was able to sign up for their international call plan for $3.99 a month and then calls are only 8 cents a minute. Then I can cancel next month, without any penalties.

It might pay to research "dial-around" providers. I used 101-6868 to call for my reservations at the Accademia and also to call for the Secret Itineraries tour in Venice. The cost is 15 cents/min. Not available everywhere, but most of U.S.

It was Florenceart. From what I can remember I used this group from information on this site.I think I may have been trying to book the Scavi tour. The florenceart site was also linked to Florence commerce. Having just done a quick search selectitaly.com has their tours linked to florenceart.

I was wondering if anyone has had any troubles with online booking for different places like the Accademia, and which sites were bad for online booking. Which sites are good?

Booking reservations for both is the best way to go, anytime of year, so long as you do it directly yourself, or ask your hotel to do it. We found it was easiest to ask our hotel, since they know the ropes, and want to please their incoming guests.

Because the Italians don't deploy the concept of "lines" like we do in the U.S., you are best forewarned to have a valid reservation. For instance, even though we had reservations for 10 a.m. at the Uffizi this past May, the guard wouldn't let us in at 10. He created a line along the building, for those of us with reservations. There were about 20 people in the line, and growing.

Then a large number of Italian women simply walked up to the door and formed their own quite large waiting group, which totally confused the situation. The guard chose this time to take his cigarette break. He walked across the small street to the opposite sidewalk, smoked his cigarettes and watched as the "lines" got totally out of hand.

When he returned, he spoke to the Italian group of women and was going to let them in first! I was about fifth in the reservations line, and I couldn't help but say something to him. I pointed out that these women had just arrived, and our line was the next to enter with our reservations. He did defer to me on it, thankfully. I was surprised that no one else in the reservations line spoke up to support me. Oh, well, we spent about 3 hours in the Uffizi and loved it.
>-

I wouldn't use the web sites where you prepay. They cost much more than the reservation costs if you book it by telephone. Also, if you use the telephone method, you get a reservation where you don't prepay, and if for some reason you have to miss it, you are not out the money. If you get to the museum and there is no lineup, you don't need to use the reservation and can just get a ticket like everyone else.

Not to discount any of the experiences had by some posters above, but we were in Florence in May, 2005, and when we confirmed our hotel reservations, we asked them to get us Academia tickets for us, which they did. We avoided a line of about 50 people and went into a line of about 10 people and that group was let in first. Still, that other line didn't wait very long. I believe there was a small charge for this (I vaguely remember it being 2 or 3 euros a ticket but I could be wrong).

Regarding the Ufizzi, I can't remember for sure whether the hotel got our tickets for us. But what I do remember is that we had to pick our tickets up at a wicket across from the entrance. When we did this, there was a small group of people purchasing tickets for the following day, seemingly with no problem.

Just our experience, but perhaps it's different now. I have to say that we were extraordinarily lucky when we were in Italy and didn't wait in line for anything, including the Vatican museum. And I'm usually the person who stands in the line that stops dead at the bank or the airport!