I go to the museum… and you?
Not only landscapes and well-know monuments, Italy distinguishes itself for its abundance of museums and artworks. Michelangelo, Leonardo, Vasari are all great artists the world envies Italy… and Florence for. If you go to the museum from 5th to 10th March, you can visit them all for free! The Museum Week is back, the initiative organized by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage to promote Italy’s inestimable places of culture. Florence, with its impressive artistic collections, enhances the background of Italians and foreigners making them stop in their tracks in amazement.
Uffizi Galleries, Accademia Gallery, Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens, Bargello Museum and The Medici Chapels, Florence’s wonders for a week in the name of Art.
The Accademia Gallery of Florence is full of important artworks, including the masterpieces of major Italian artists such as Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Pontormo. Tourists are willing to wait in line for hours for the master of the house: Michelangelo, who enriches the museum with its most beautiful Renaissance sculptures, from I Prigioni to San Matteo, but above all the magnificent David, which everybody admires in all his glory in the official gallery. A recent add is the Museum of Musical Instruments that shows ancient instruments including some by Stradivari and Bartolomeo Cristofori, the inventor of the piano.
The complex of the Uffizi Galleries includes the Uffizi, Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens, three of the must-see monuments in Florence. Enjoy masterpieces at the Uffizi, two floors entirely dedicated to ancient sculptures and amazing paintings from the Middle Age to the Modern Age. Two of the most loved works are without any doubt the Birth of Venus and Spring by Botticelli. Giotto, Mantegna, Caravaggio and many others make the Uffizi one of the most visited museum in the world, with millions of visitors every year.
Four museums in one make Palace Pitti a real residence of art. It was the palace of the most important families in Florence, the Medicis, the Asburgo-Lorena and the Savoia. Among its most beautiful rooms there is the Palatine Gallery, with the highest number of works by Raffaello, as well as the paintings by Tiziano, Caravaggio and Rubens. Behind the museum there is the amazing Boboli Gardens, the goldenstar of the Medici Family, who first tended to its Italian look. Fountains, sculptures, several different species of plants and an astonishing view over the Duomo and the city of Florence. You should really enjoy a sunny afternoon taking a walk here, maybe in spring or summer! And while you’re at it, don’t miss the Porcelain Museum and the Museum of Costume and Fashion.
The Bargello distinguishes itself for its series of museums full of beauty. The National Museum of Bargello, renowned for its collection of Renaissance statues and the works by Michelangelo, Donatello, Giambologna and Cellini. The Medici Chapels with their treasures and relics belonged to the Medici and Lorena families. The Museum of Casa Martelli is a house-museum with an exhibition itinerary between sculptures and furniture of the XVIII-XIX century. Orsanmichele Museum, which contains the original sculptures of the most famous florentine artists of XV and XVI centuries, and its Church with the tabernacle in marble of the Madonna delle Grazie. Davanzati Palace, that took its name from the precedent owner the Davanzati family, is a museum set up with works coming from the florentine galleries. It’s temporarily closed for renovation.
In occasion of the 500th anniversary from Leonardo da Vinci’s death, the Bargello Museum joins the celebrations with the exhibition Verrocchio, the master of Leonardo. Don’t miss it!
It’s not over yet! Also Villa Corsini, the Museum of San Marco and the Cenacolo of Ognissanti open to the public for free. See the complete list at this link.
For your stay in Florence we suggest you the Grand Hotel Adriatico and Rivoli Boutique Hotel, two great choices a few steps away from the Santa Maria Novella station and a ten-minute walk from the city centre.
