Florence Museums

Galleria dell'Accademia

Via Ricasoli, 58/ 60 Opening: Tuesday to Friday from 8.15 to 18.50 Closure: Monday, December 25th and January 1s
n the heart of the city, it hosts the examples of paintings and sculptures by the great masters of the Florence 14th and 15th centuries who have made Florence the capital of art. Founded in 1784 by the will of the Grand Duke Leopoldo of Lorena, La Galleria dell'Accademia had the goal to host a collection of antique and modern paintings and sculptures to make it easier for the students of the nearby Academy of Beau Arts to know and study them. The seat was in part drawn from the antique building that once belonged to the hospital of S.Matteo, which was adjoined by other contiguous environments of the old convent of San Niccol in Cafaggio.In 1873 arrives the David, transferred here to subtract it from the cruelty of time and weather, but only in 1882 the masterpiece by Michelangelo will find its position in the Tribune specially projected by Emilio de' Fabris. Through time the Galleria became famous for its collection of the sculptures by Michelangelo and is enriched by the masterpieces of painting and sculpture by famous and less famous who have transformed Florence into one of the most imnportant capitals of art. Around 1980, the Galleria is endowed by a Gipsoteca located in the Salone dell'Ottocento (19th century hall). The Galleria is arranged on two floors of which, the ground floor is certainly the most famous and admired one. The pathway opens with the Sala dell'Anticolosso, where at present is placed the original in gesso of The Rape of the Sabine's (1582) by Giambologna. We can admire some sacred paintings such as Cristo in Piet by Andrea del Sarto and the Deposition of the Cross by Filippo Lippi. From here you reach the Galleria dei Prigioni, a corridor that hosts a series of incomplete sculptures by Michelangelo: enormous masses of stone within which emerges the scream of the material that wants to become form, through the powerful hand of the great artist. Among these notable is the famous Piet da Palestrina, which arrived at the Galleria in 1940. The art work results disproportionate in its dimensions, so much that the ascription to Michelangelo is uncertain. On the background dominates unchallenged the David in its tribune. Commissioned in 1501 to Michelangelo by the Florence Republic, the statue was first placed in piazza della Signoria, in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, as a symbol of liberty. The David represents, in fact the young biblical hero in the moment when he gathers his powers to defeat the giant Goliath. Michelangelo, who was just a little more than 25 years of age was paid 400 scudi for this work of art and used a big marble block already reduced to bad conditions by the efforts of other artists to draw a great sculpture out of it. And from this marble, which by then seemed unusable, came one of the greatest masterpieces of civilization, the height of the Renaissance ideal of the free man and the maker of his own destiny.In the two lateral wings of the tribune are placed the 16th century examples Florence art: sacred paintings with bright and sombre colours such as the Disputa sull'Immacolata Concezione (The Dispute of the Immaculate Conception) by Carlo Portelli. At the end of the left wing of the tribune of the David, in the Salone dell'Ottocento (19th century Hall), is arranged the Gipsoteca dedicated to Lorenzo Bartolini (1777- 1850). The galleria dei gessi was opened to the public only in 1985. Standing out are the about 300 busts representing the upper middle class, through which the skilful portraitist Bartolini expressed himself. Rich and well-illustrated is the mythological theme: Voto dell'Innocenza (the Vote of Innocence), Venus, etc. The pathway, on the ground-floor, ends with the Sale Bizantine (Byzantine Halls) where examples of Florence painting of the 14th century are gathered. In the first of the three halls to catch your attention is L'Albero della Vita (the Tree of Life), illustration of the literary text 'Lignum vitae' (S. Bonaventura) produced by Pacino di Bonaguida, whom in it represents scenes of the life of Jesus and of the and stories from the Genesis. In the second hall one should admire the Formelle (panels) painted by Taddeo Gaddi around 1330 to decorate the reliquary shrine of the Basilica of Santa Croce. At last, the hall dedicated to Andrea, Nardo and Jacopo di Cione, the three Orcagna brothers, whose sacred paintings are the expression of the Florence 14th century.The four halls of the first floor were arranged and opened to the public 1985. The first of them hosts the paintings by Giovanni da Milano and by other Florence painters. In the second hall are gathered examples of paintings of the second half of the 14th century among which the bright and sombre colours of Andrea Orcagna. The third hall hosts a selection of art works by Lorenzo Monaco (1370-1423), a famous painter and miniaturist. The fourth and last hall gathers examples of Florence late-Gothic paintings through the illustrations of Lorenzo Monaco and of the International Gothic with Gherardo Starnina and other of his contemporaries.

The Uffizi Gallery
Founded by Francesco de' Medici to delight himself during his walks, the Uffizi Gallery has become through the centuries one of the most famous and admired museums in the world. It was Francesco I de' Medici who created an art Gallery on the second floor of the Palazzo degli Uffizi to delight himself, during his walks, with the collection of paintings, sculptures and arrases belonging to the Medici family. Thanks to Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici the Gallery became a "public and inalienable good": the Duchess, in fact, handed it over to the Lorena family providing that it would remain open to the public. At the present day the Uffizi Gallery is one of the most famous and celebrated museums in the world, the symbol of the vocation for collecting and to patronage. An interesting group is represented by the artworks commissioned by the corporations of arts and trades thanks to their economical, cultural and artistic exchanges, Florence has become the world capital of art and, especially a meeting and exchanging landmark for the most important Italian and foreign artists. Other artworks come from private donations, from diplomatic exchanges, from antique convents and dynastic inheritance. The entrance is located under the left portico. After the ticket office you access the Aula di San Pier Scheraggio, the still existing central aisle of the antique church which was destroyed to widen via della Ninna. Presently it is an exposition seat rich of decorations belonging to the Roman and Medieval ages among which historical-religious frescoes by Andrea del Castagno. From the ticket office you enter the Monumental Staircase by Vasari which leads you to the first floor. From the big hall you pass on to the exposition and reference room of the Drawings and Prints Cabinet: a vast collection of drawings by artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Pontormo, Vasari and others. The collection, among the greatest and most important in the world, has very antique origins. It was started by the will of Lorenzo de' Medici and it was continued by his followers. It cannot be visited at the present day for studying reasons. After the Drawing and Prints Cabinet there's the Library and the areas reserved for temporary exhibits. The Gallery is located on the second floor.

Archeological Museum
Since 1880 the Crocetta Palace has been the home of the National Archeological Museum of Florence: rich and precious collections, testimonies of now-extinct cultures, now-extinct, that is, but that take root and live on in the history of man. A visit to the Museum starts with the section dedicated to Egyptian arts. The finds of the Paleolithic Age: the prehistoric Egypt that had to have started two million years ago. To this period belong the numerous utensils and instruments on display. The long history of the Egyptian people and culture is narrated by objects of diverse dating and origins: domestic utensils, beauty instruments (rooms I-V). Room XI holds various instruments relative to the ritual of Mummification, the so-called Canopic Vessels: containers for the vital organs of the deceased and essential for the funeral trousseau. Following are the artifacts relative to the Protodynastic Age: Ancient, Middle, and New Reigns, until the age of Copta (310 a.D.). Among the cult objects of this polytheist civilization, the Museum exhibits some fragments of papyrus, the chapters of the Book of the Dead: a story of the formula and ritual for the survival of the deceased in the afterlife (room VI), an exceptional facet of this great people. The second section of the Museum is dedicated to Etruscan art: funerary sculpture and urns in terracotta (III-IV b.C.). The Mater Matuta is the most important find in room IX: a funerary urn in the figure of a woman with a baby in her arms, symbolic of fertility and motherhood. The artifacts were found in Chiusi, Chianciano and Volterra and date between the Fourth and Seventh Century b.C. The Etruscan section holds a bronze collection rich with devotional objects, domestic utensils, small bronzes of animals and human figures in the act of making offerings (room XIV). Finally, there is a series of ancient bronze arms for attack (daggers, helmets, knifes and lances) and shields for defense, providing protection for the heart (VII b.C.). The third section is dedicated to the Attica Ceramics: funerary amphorae, geometric cups and vases from the VIII Century b.C. One can see the particular vases, painted with the black-figure technique asserted to be from the VI Century b.C. (room I): life scenes and those of abduction, mythological images, athletic competitions and races between carts and horses decorate the production of the famous Attic painter Lyds (560 b.C.). Between 550 and 530 b.C. the attention of the Attic ceramicists dwelt on few personages and dramatic scenes: the refinement culminates with the narration of the deeds of courageous heroes. The famous Hidra, a vase for drawing water covered with scenes of women at the fountains, makes the exposition cases of Room II even more invaluable. A fourth section holds numerous Roman bronzes: portraits, helmets, statues, and masks of noble and valorous heroes. Very important are the two Elogia Arretina, dedicated to Quinto Fabio Massimo and Appio Claudio Cieco: two marble tablets that illustrate the name, career, and the military and political enterprise of the two. A visit to the Archeological Museum is a trip, a leap through the times of peoples now gone and cultures extinct, but deeply imprinted in the memory of man. Particular information is available to the visitor in each room.

Bargello museum
The most famous stone palace of the city was built on commission (1255) by the Faction of the People as a fortress and arsenal to resist the nobles of the city; later on it became the seat of the Captains of the People (Podest) who guided the Faction. Through time, the structure was used for other functions: from 1574, in fact, it was entrusted to the Captain of Justice or Bargello (from which the present name of the museum derives) which was transformed it into a jail. It was born as a museum in 1865. The entrance, from the angled tower on via del Proconsolo, leads you into the Medieval Courtyard, the first corner which arouses a suggestive artistic and architectural interest. On the wall that leads to the first floor one can notice the coat-of-arms of the Podest which followed each other through the years at the head of the Faction of the People. In the centre, presently containing a well, there was once the gallows. From the courtyard you enter to the first room dedicated to the works of the Florence maestros such as the Tondo Pitti or the Bacco by Michelangelo or the Mercurio and la Firenze vittoriosa su Pisa by Gianbologna. After the wonderful sculptures of this first room, you proceed to the first floor from the stairway of the courtyard. The first room is the Room of the Ivories (la Sala degli Avori), which contains the ivory pieces of the Carrand collection: 265 pieces dated between the 5th and the 17th centuries, among which there are sacred and pagan themed diptychs, panels, caskets and wings. You then continue to the second room, the real Treasure of the Bargello (Forziere of the Bargello): a collection of precious treated works, which belong to the Carrand collection. On the right side there is the entrance to the Chapel of Maria Maddalena and the Sacristy, a room which was reserved to the condemned waiting for their execution. The frescos of the school of Giotto are of great value and enrich the room. From the Treasure (Forziere) of the Carrand collection you enter the Islamic Room (la Sala Islamica) which contains a collection of oriental carpets and objects. The next room is the Room of the Council (la sala del Consiglio): the heart of the administration activities of the city for about forty years after the Council of the Republic of Florence took its place (Consiglio della Repubblica di Firenze), today it contains the sculptures of the artists who lived in the 15th century Florence. Following along we find the Room of the Majolica's (la Sala delle Maioliche) which, from 1888, contains exemplars of the workshops of Urbino, Siena, Orvieto and Firenze. On the second floor, the first room is dedicated to Giovanni della Robbia: it contains terracotta sculptures and a collection of medals donated by the Dukes of Florence. You then proceed to the Room of the Arms (la Sala delle Armi), a rich collection of weapons for attacks and defences of Medieval origin. Followed by the Room named after Andrea della Robbia, the Room of the Small Bronzes (la Sala dei Bronzetti), the Room of Verrocchio (la Sala del Verrocchio) and, at last, but not least precious the very famous Room of Medals of Florence (Medagliere di Firenze), a rich collection of medals, which in the Renaissance age were commemorative medals of buildings, events and personalities of the Renaissance years. The history of the city and of the age, well narrated and expressed through the works of the Museo del Bargello draws the visitor towards an overview of the Renaissance which made Florence become one of the capitals of art.