Left panels: comparison of the photometric (hashed histogram) and spectroscopic (red dotted histogram) MDFs along the bulge’s minor axis at b = −4°, −6°, and −8°. The average [Fe/H] and dispersion σ_s are also shown for all MDFs. Right panels: CMDs in the absolute plane of the fields located along the minor axis at b = −4°, −6°, and −8° with the empirical RGB templates overplotted. Thick black circles refer to the stars used to derive the photometric MDFs.