The Bargello National Museum is housed in one of the oldest buildings in Florence dating back to 1255. From 1574 it became the seat of the Bargello, or the chief officer of the police forces of the city of Florence. In 1700 it was used as a city prison where capital punishments were carried out, including that of Baroncelli, involved in the Pazzi conspiracy to exterminate the Medici family. Today the Museum houses sculptural masterpieces from the Grand Ducal collections of the Renaissance, including sculptures by Michelangelo, Donatello and Lorenzo Ghiberti, as well as a large number of “minor” Gothic decorative arts.
Guided by your guide you will enter the rooms of this extraordinary Museum, cross its historic courtyard where executions took place, climb the staircase to arrive at the Verone, a beautiful frescoed loggia that houses a prestigious series of bronze animals by famous artists, such as Giambologna and Ammannati.
Bargello Museum tour: itineraries and duration
The Bargello Museum is an important museum dedicated mainly to Renaissance sculpture. Inside there is a courtyard of the 13th century with sculptures from Palazzo Vecchio and the Boboli Gardens. In the Michelangelo Room there are some of the artist’s early works, including the Bacchus, made when he was only 22 years old and considered his first sculpture in the round.
You can admire the Pitti Tondo, another masterpiece of the artist in which you can see influences from Leonardo da Vinci.
Very interesting is the Hall of the Ivories in which works from the collections of the French antiquarian Carrand of 1889 are exhibited. Inside are exhibited Byzantine, Etruscan, Roman, French, Italian, German, Flemish and Spanish works. There is also a section dedicated to Islamic art with artifacts from the Grand Ducal collections, such as jewelry, weapons, carpets and precious fabrics.
The Hall of Donatello and fifteenth-century sculpture houses some of the artist’s masterpieces, such as St. George, the David in marble and bronze, an example of the first nude in Western art. Here is the famous Marzocco, a lion in pietra serena that holds its paw on the lily, the symbol of Florence. Among his works, the Attys-Amore, a work of his maturity, also stands out.
Also in the same room you can admire Brunelleschi’s bronze panel on the Sacrifice of Isaac and the one with an identical theme by Lorenzo Ghiberti, both made for the 1401 competition for the north door of the Baptistery of Florence. In the same room there are also beautiful Della Robbia, glazed terracotta works from the workshop of Luca and Andrea della Robbia.
Going up to the first floor we will stop in the Verone, a beautiful loggia from the 1300s that houses a series of bronze animals by Giambologna and Ammannati from the Medici Villa di Castello.
Do not miss a visit to the Hall of Majolica, the Bronzes, the Armoury, Baroque sculpture and the Medal Collection. All works from the grand-ducal collections.
Visiting the Bargello Museum with your professional tour guide will help you admire the preciousness of the style of each work of art and learn about the meaning that the artist wanted to convey through his masterpiece.
