Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
its harmonious lines and restrained terracotta medallions of the Apostles by Luca della
Robbia, and is a masterpiece of Renaissance architecture. It was built for, but never used
by, the wealthy banking family destroyed in the 1478 Pazzi Conspiracy - when papal
sympathisers sought to overthrow Lorenzo il Magnifico and the Medici dynasty.
sion incl basilica adult/concession €5/3)
features
Crucifix
by Cimabue, restored to the best de-
gree possible after flood damage in 1966, when more than 4m of water inundated the
Santa Croce area.
Other highlights include Donatello's gilded bronze statue St Louis of Toulouse (1424),
originally placed in a tabernacle on the Orsanmichele facade; a wonderful terracotta bust
of St Francis receiving the stigmata by the della Robbia workshop; and frescoes by Tad-
deo Gaddi, including
The Last Supper
(1333).
Museo del Bargello
MAP
ART MUSEUM
GOOGLE MAP
(
www.polomuseale.firenze.it
; Via del Proconsolo 4; adult/reduced €4/2, temporary exhibitions €6/3;
8.15am-4.20pm Tue-Sun & 1st & 3rd Mon of month, to 2pm winter)
It was behind the stark exterior
of Palazzo del Bargello, Florence's earliest public building, that the
podestà
meted out
justice from the late 13th century until 1502. Today the building safeguards Italy's most
comprehensive collection of Tuscan Renaissance pieces and some of Michelangelo's best
early works.
Michelangelo was just 21 when a cardinal commissioned him to create the drunken
grape-adorned
Bacchus
(1496-97), displayed in Bargello's downstairs
Sala di Michelangelo
.
Unfortunately the cardinal didn't like the result and sold it to a banker. Other Michelan-
gelo works to look out for here include the marble bust of
Brutus
(c 1539-40), the
David/
Apollo
from 1530-32 and the large, uncompleted roundel of the
Madonna and Child with
the Infant St John
(1503-05, aka the Tondo Pitti).
After Michelangelo left Florence for the final time in 1534, sculpture was dominated by
Baccio Bandinelli (his 1551
Adam and Eve
, created for the
duomo
, is displayed in the Sala
di Michelangelo) and Benvenuto Cellini (look for his playful 1548-50 marble
Ganimede
in the same room).
On the 1st floor, to the right of the staircase, is the
Sala di Donatello
. Here, in the majestic
Salone del Consiglio Generale where the city's general council met, works by Donatello
and other early-15th-century sculptors can be admired. Originally on the facade of Chiesa
