Glossary

GALERIA DEGLI UFFIZI

The most famous art gallery in Italy, housed in a palace built in the late sixteenth century. The collection where you can admire together the masterpieces of the most important Italian artists, such as Giotto, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raffaello, Tiziano, Caravaggio.

GALERIA DELL’ACCADEMIA

The gallery where, together with the famous Michelangelo’s David, you’ll find six other large statues of Michelangelo, but also a remarkable collection of painting from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century.

MUSEO NAZIONALE DI SAN MARCO

The museum is housed in the monastery built in the fifteenth century, designed by Michelozzo and decorated by Beato Angelico with many frescoes, it is one of those rare sites where the early Renaissance art has remained completely original. It has the world largest collection of altarpieces painted by Beato Angelico.

MUSEO NAZIONALE DEL BARGELLO

The first National Museum in Italy, in an original Middle Age building, displays remarkable sculptures of the fifteenth and sixteenth century, masterpieces of Donatello, Verrocchio, Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Michelangelo, Cellini, Giambologna.

CAPPELLE MEDICEE

The mausoleum built by the Medici as their funerary chapel. It consists in three different spaces: a crypt, an octagonal huge chapel enriched with mosaics of rare marbles and the New Sacristy, designed and sculptured entirely by Michelangelo.

PALAZZO PITTI

The largest palace in Florence, where the Grand Dukes of Tuscany lived for four centuries. In the grandeur of halls enriched with stuccoes en frescoes the Galleria Palatina is the gallery where you can admire statues, antique furniture and hundreds of painting of artists like Botticelli, Raffaello, Tiziano, Rubens, Van Dyke.

GIARDINO DI BOBOLI

Behind Palazzo Pitti, all the way up to the top of the hill and, on the other side, for more than one kilometer extends Giardino di Boboli, the park of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany. Within the perimeter of ancient Florence, enriched with many statues and fountains, it is an oasis of trees, offering some of the best views of Florence.

PALAZZO VECCHIO

The Middle Age palace of the government, is more than seven centuries old but we still use it as Florence City Town Hall. It looks like a fortress, it was enlarged for Cosimo de’ Medici, the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, it represents in Florence the palace of the Power. It contains overwhelming frescoes, statues and has the tallest tower of Florence.

MUSEO DELL’OPERA DEL DUOMO

The New Museum of the Duomo with all the original masterpieces, models, projects for the Opera of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence religious complex. Artists such as Arnolfo, Giotto, Filippo Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Leonardo da Vinci, Donatello, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Giorgio Vasari worked here and the new museum displays the works resulted by their talent.

PALAZZO DAVANZATI

A palace built for a very wealthy family of merchants was preserved for seven centuries with its frescoes. More recently was refurnished with a remarkable collection of antiques.

CASA BUONARROTI MUSEUM

The palace that the nephew of Michelangelo has built for the prestige of the family, with the money of his uncle. An amazing collection of Michelangelo’s sketches, two relieves of his youth and seventeenth century frescoes.

HORNE MUSEUM

In a palace of the fifteenth century, the art collection of Herbert Percy Horne, the English studier, collector and art merchant who left all his palace and entire collection to the city of Florence.

BARDINI MUSEUM

The museum is named after its creator, Stefano Bardini, the most authoritative Italian antiquarian, who made the legend of the Italian Renaissance known the world round and who decided to transform his collection into a museum and donate it to the city of Florence. The palazzo where the museum is housed was bought and renovated by himself in 1881. The Stefano Bardini museum is an extraordinary illustration of collecting, antiques and artistic crafts.

SANTA MARIA NOVELLA

The gothic basilica of the Dominican order was built between the late thirteenth and the fourteenth century. The magnificent façade, inlaid with green and white marble, is a Renaissance masterpiece. The interior has three large naves and side chapels. I contains many remarkable works of famous artists like Giotto, Orcagna, Masaccio, Brunelleschi, Ghirlandaio. The complex includes also a large part of the monastery, with the cloisters, the refectory and friar’s chapter house.

SAN LORENZO

The basilica was built by Brunelleschi for the Medici as their parish church, renovating completely the first cathedral of Florence, it can be considered the first Renaissance church ever built. The interior, with three large naves, is very bright and contains many works of art of Donatello. The complex includes a pretty cloister and the library completely designed by Michelangelo.

SANTO SPIRITO

In the heart of the Oltrarno, it was designed by Brunelleschi as his last work. The bright interior has three large naves and has an unbroken row of side chapels enriched with valuable sculptures and altarpieces, but in the sacristy we will find an almost unknown masterpiece: the wooden crucifixion of Michelangelo.

SANTA CROCE

The largest Franciscans friars Church in the world was built in Florence more than 700 hundred years ago. It was decorated by some of the most important artists of Florence, it had additions in Renaissance time. Through centuries it was the burial site for remarkable citizens and still today, we can admire here absolute masterpieces and stop to commemorate, in front of their tombs, characters like Galileo, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, Rossini and more.