The Guardia di Finanza stopped four people in Florence who were selling tickets to access the city’s museums at prices higher than those indicated by the Ministry of Culture, and without authorization. It seems that these people are employees of travel agencies, including foreign ones, or of online sales platforms: an urban Daspo has been decided for them, i.e. an order to leave the area for 48 hours. The Guardia di Finanza also seized 58 tickets valid for access to the Accademia Gallery sold at 25 euros each compared to the expected 16 euros, and 16 tickets for the Uffizi Gallery sold at 40 euros each at the seat of 25 euros.
The provincial commander of the Guardia di Finanza of Florence Bruno Salsano said that controls have been “intensified to repress the phenomenon of touting” and that investigations are underway “to trace the illicit ticket sales chain”. The latest operation is part of the so-called “High Impact” plan decided, also following a request from the managements of the museums of Florence, in collaboration with the Committee for public order and safety of the prefecture (which includes the police commissioner, the provincial commander of the Carabinieri, the commander of the Guardia di Finanza and the mayor).
For now, the investigations have made it possible to identify a series of websites attributable to tour operators which, as an alternative to the official channels, allow you to book and buy access tickets to museums at increased prices and with the addition of the queue-skipping service. Often the increase in the cost of the access ticket, in some cases even higher than 60 percent compared to the standard rate, is justified with the promise of a series of additional services which, in fact, are not provided.
The existence of a parallel ticket market has been denounced for some time in Florence, but also in other Italian museums. The Association of Licensed Tour Guides (AGTA) said that, after the pandemic and with the sharp increase in the number of visitors this spring, the phenomenon has increased. In the case of the Colosseum in Rome, for example, touting is associated with a chronic lack of tickets sold in official channels, where until recently it was very complicated to purchase them and where often, due to periods with the highest demand, they sold out within minutes .
– Read also: Have you ever tried to buy a ticket for the Colosseum?
