Florence is full of treasures and it takes months to discover them all. If you do not have that much time it is better to make the right choice on what to see and what can be postponed to the next holiday, according to personal taste. Here is a quick guide on the most prominent museums in Florence to help you make this tough decision.
- The most important museum is for sure the Uffizi Gallery, it contains several universally acclaimed masterpieces of all time, some of them belonged to the private collection of the Medici Family, the most influencial family of the Florentine Renaissance, including works by Giotto, Simone Martini, Piero della Francesca, Fra Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Botticelli, Mantegna, Correggio, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo and Caravaggio. German, Dutch and Flemish masters are also well represented with important works by Dürer, Rembrandt and Rubens The Uffizi buildings also house other important collections: the Contini Bonacossi Collection and the Collection of Prints and Drawings (Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi). The Vasari Corridor, the raised passageway connecting the Uffizi with the Pitti Palace, and is hung with an important collection of 17th-century paintings and the famous collection of artists’ Self-portraits.
- The Accademia Gallery is particularly famous for its sculptures by Michelangelo: the Prisoners, the St.Matthew and, especially, the statue of David which was transferred here, to the specially designed tribune, from Piazza della Signoria in 1873, where now you can see just a copy.
- The Palatine Gallery is nestled inside the Pitti Palace, which was the residence of the Medici grand-dukes. In 1828, when Tuscany came under the rule of the Lorena family, the most important paintings in the Palace, most of which had been collected by the Medici, were hung in the Gallery. It is an impressive collection comprising works by Raffaello, Correggio, Rubens, Pietro da Cortona and other Italian and European masters of the Renaissance and Baroque periods.
- The Bargello Museum has a remarkable collection of sculpture and works of art. It occupies an impressive building built for the Capitano del Popolo in the mid-13th century, which later became the seat of the Podestà and Council of Justice. Since 1865 the palazzo houses the National Museum, bringing together many important Renaissance sculptures, including masterpieces by Donatello, Luca della Robbia, Verrocchio, Michelangelo and Cellini.
- The Argenti dei Medici Museum, literally the Medici's treasures, is located in the Pitti Palace. It houses the important Medici’s Treasure: the semi precious stone vases of Lorenzo the Magnificent, the cameos of Cosimo I, the rock crystal objects of Francesco I, the ambers of Maria Maddalena d’Austria, the wonderful ivory vases of Mattia de Medici and the famous jewels collection belonged to Anna Maria Luisa, the last member of the Medici Family.
- The Medici's Chapels Museum is incorporated in the vast complex of the basilica of San Lorenzo which, being the parish church of the Medici family, was particularly richly decorated. The Museum is especially famous for the New Sacristy which Michelangelo designed for the tombs of Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici, creating one of the masterpieces of architecture and sculpture of the Italian Renaissance.
- Palazzo Strozzi hosts temporary exhibitions with Italian and international masterpieces carefully selected by the best curators.
From Palazzo Vecchietti you can easily reach each one of these museums, here is the official site of the Florence museums network, with every info on horaires and fees.. or feel free to ask our staff!
