Accessibility
Villa Monastero is a house museum with a botanical garden and it is located in the town of Varenna.
If you are arriving in Varenna by ferry–boat it takes about 25 minutes through the town centre to get to Villa Monastero. There is not a parking place inside the venue, if you are coming by car you can park it in a paid parking garage opposite Villa Monastero. For further information about transport you may contact the Varenna tourist office in advance.
Regarding the visit of Villa Monastero we can give you the following information.
Villa Monastero offers free entry to all disabled visitors. For visitors who are not self-sufficient free entry is also extended to a companion. The free entry tickets are not available on line but they are issued upon presentation of a certificate of invalidity at the arrival at the ticket desk. Entry tickets and free entry tickets are never sold out.
Disabled visitors and, if appropriate, a companion, are guaranteed priority skip the line entry(without the need to queue).
Some areas of the botanical garden are not accessible to people with disabilities.
The botanical garden is quite long. In the garden, at the entrance, there is a downhill path which then needs to be redone uphill. In the second part of the garden there are steps.
The floor in the garden near the house museum and the cafeteria is made of gravel.
In the house museum there are elevators.
For visitors with mobility problems Villa Monastero offers transportation by a special electric shuttle in the first part of the garden (from the ticket desk to the house museum and cafeteria and back) that also allows the transport of a wheelchair.
For information and bookings: biglietteria.villamonastero@coopculture.it. In any case you can ask for the electric shuttle at your arrival at the ticket desk.
The electric shuttle can transport only people with reduced mobility, invalid and disabled people and only inside the garden of Villa Monastero.
Toilets specially equipped for the disabled are located: next to the multimedia room (located below the ticket desk), further ahead the cafeteria outdoor area, inside the house museum (ground floor).
Villa Monastero offers to blind and partially sighted visitors a multimedia panel which tells the story of the Villa and the people who lived there.
Guide dogs for blind visitors may enter the garden and the house museum provided they are kept on a lead.
In order to overcome any barrier or discrimination in the enjoyment of the cultural heritage accessible to visitors Villa Monastero offers an innovative Guide Easy-to-read that accompanies the visitor discovering the Villa and the botanical garden.
The Guide Easy-to-read is distributed free of charge at the ticket desk or downloadable at the bottom of this page.
We wish you a nice visit.
Dear visitors, please note that due to ongoing works the elevator will not be available from Wednesday 11th March 2026 to Friday 3rd April 2026 inclusive.