Padova Experts! Scrovegni Booking Quandry
 

I am trying to book tickets online to the Cappella degli Scrovegni for July 4. The official website
http://www.cappelladegliscrovegni.it leads me to its ticket agent http://cappelladegliscrovegni.vivaticket.it/ and bookings stop dead on June 30.

Guided tours are suspended in July and August, but there is no notice that the actual chapel is closed during those times.

What to do?

Egads! I know how to spell; I just don't know how to type!!!

That would be "QUANDARY" not "QUANDRY".

Hanging my head in grammar shame...
AZ

I am getting SO good at answering my own questions.

So I called the Chapel call center. They said, "We can't schedule--and we don't know why!"

They do think there will be visits in July. I asked, "So should I just check the website every day?"

Answer: "That would be a good idea, Madame."

If, for some reason, you can't book tickets, do not give up completely. Will you be going from Venice? Get up early and be there a few minutes before the on-site ticket office opens. You may be able to get a ticket for some time that day. I have done it and got tickets for four people even. Padua is a nice town for walking around a bit and plenty of places for lunch.

OTOH, you could visit the beautiful little city of Vicenza instead and see the stunning Palladio architecture.

Thanks, Sassafrass.

Actually, we will spend 1.5 days in Padua. We are coming from Turin by train and will get there in the early evening. We'll have all Saturday in town, and then one of our party members departs from Venice early Sunday while three of us stay on for two nights there.

I've decided I'm just going to have to deal--checking the website every day until we leave!

IF you can't clarify this, I agree with Sassafrass that you may be able to get tickets anyway, especially if you can go around the day before.

When we were there, the tour times around lunchtime were not popular and could be booked that morning. Everyone wanted to start their day with a tour or do it after 2, I.e., after lunch.

It's worth the trouble.

Thanks, Ackislander.

Good luck.

Visited in July, 2012. Booked tickets on line.

There were empty spots for our group, though. I think the guide said they could have accommodated 4 more people in our viewing of the Giotto's.

Have hope!


Thin

Just wanted to send out the alert that I was FINALLY able to book a July viewing date for the chapel online.

As stated above, I was so frustrated that booking dates online had not gone beyond June 30 for months. When I phoned, the associate was VERY kind, but she could not quite explain why they could not book July dates online. And she laughed an agreement when I said, "So I should just be checking online twice a day in case it opens up?"

So for those of you in search of the same thing, you are good to go now for July.

The booking for this event with Vivatickets was a little difficult--let me know if you have problems and I may be able to help out. It was far easier for me, using the same Vivatickets system, to book the Milan Leo da Vinci exhibit.

So my next question is:
<b>Should I book a second viewing of the chapel?? Has anyone done that</b>

I am so tempted.

Please chime in.
AZ

We visited the chapel a few weeks ago on a day trip from Venice.
Just showed up...they were able to fit us in the next half hour.
The situation could be different in July.

This is a lot like a friend trying to book online tickets to the Paris Opera a couple of years ago.

He is a techie and knew there was a bug.

He emailed their techies, who replied that yes, there is a bug, but it doesn't affect anyone outside North America, here is how you get around it.

Not everyone shares our urgency that technology work right all the time. If they can help us out or fit us in, hey, it makes us happy and validates their lives. Instead of being a clerk, they have become a problem solver.

"not everyone shares our urgency that technology work all the time."

True, Ackislander, but even the call center, as nice as they were when I called originally weeks ago, couldn't give out time slots for July. I am wondering if there was a different time allotment setup for July at the Giotto Chapel thus requiring a backloading of data onto their entire booking system.

I do know the first page of the chapel's website clearly said for eons that tickets could be booked online <b>through June 30</b> and gave no other info about booking for a later date. In fact, at first I feared that the chapel would be closed.

I iterate that establishing an account online with the Vivatickets booking website was easy--no problems there. The Milan tickets were a snap; there was a bit of retracing back and forth needed to book the chapel, though. The fact that the so-called English versions of the pages are mostly in Italian probably doesn't help! But when it came time to pay, again, that transaction went well. No glitches.

Hey, it's not as though websites in the US always work smoothly, that's for sure. Ironically, I just today tried to make a memorial donation online to a local but nationally known cancer center that is surrounded by IT firms. Wow, trying to give them money was hard. Donation links ended up in dead ends, a reverse search got me to the right page but through a convoluted entry system, and the auto receipt shows I donated, but no mention of the person to be remembered, the co-donor, or the relative to be notified, which is strange in this day and age.

Probably someone did the donation page in 2010 and no one ever thought to update it.

-------

Danon, I am thinking that when I pick up the tickets the night before our visit, I'll check into booking another entry later on that day. If there's an opening, great. If not, then...

Enjoy your weekends, folks.
AZ

If you really want a good experience in the Scrovegni Chapel, bring binoculars.

Thin

"This is a lot like a friend trying to book online tickets to the Paris Opera a couple of years ago."

I managed to book Paris Opera performance last year
and the Bolshoi in Moscow for July.
Took a while ....but not impossible.
A good suggestion from Thin...they only allowed 15-20 min. In the Chapel .

We did a back to back double entry and loved it the nicest part was when the time turned over, everyone form the first group left and we were in the chapel by ourselves for a short bit until the next group came in...fabulous.

Thin: You are right! Padova is at the end of our cycling trip, for which I always( nerd alert! ) bring binoculars, so I'm make sure to be wearing them the day we enter.

yestravel: how did you do the back-to-back? Did you take the next time slot too? I'm dying to know.
AZ

I would decide about the second booking once you have seen the chapel. The timed visit seemed sufficient to me as the room is rather small and can feel claustrophobic if full, which it will be in July.

The decorative arts museum just across the road is well worth seeing, also the botanic garden and, best of all, the wonderful markets.

At the time we went, a few years ago, they had something called a double turn or something to that effect. I had read about it and our hotel booked for us.

Here's an old thread that discusses it
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...apel-padua.cfm

The double turn ticket is only available at night. It used to be bookable online, but it appears now it has to be done by phone. Scroll down to the bottom of this page:

http://www.cappelladegliscrovegni.it...and-reductions

I had the same experience as yestravel, I did the double turn and for a few minutes in between two groups I was completely alone in the chapel. It was remarkable.

But if you already have a daytime ticket, maybe the double turn can wait until the next trip...