Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Two different-but-similar entrepreneurial establishments several blocks apart show off re-
productions of Leonardo's ingenious inventions. Either one is fun for anyone who wants to
crank the shaft and spin the ball bearings of Leonardo's fertile imagination. While there are
no actual historic artifacts, each museum shows several dozen of Leonardo's inventions and
experiments made into working models. You might see a full-size armored tank, walk into
a chamber of mirrors, operate a rotating crane, or watch experiments in flying. The exhibits
are described in English, and what makes these places special is that you're encouraged to
touch and play with the models—it's great for kids. The museum on Via dei Servi is a bit
larger.
Cost and Hours:
Admission to each museum is €7. Museo Leonardo da Vinci—daily
10:00-19:00, Nov-March until 18:00, Via dei Servi 66 red, tel. 055-282-966,
www.mostredileonardo.com
. Le Macchine di Leonardo da Vinci—April-Oct daily
9:30-19:30; Nov-March Mon-Fri 11:00-17:00, Sat-Sun 9:30-19:30; for €1 extra they'll
throw in a slice of pizza and a Coke, in Galleria Michelangelo at Via Cavour 21, tel.
055-295-264,
www.macchinedileonardo.com
.
The following Duomo-related sights are all covered with a single combo-ticket. This €10
ticket admits you to the Baptistery, dome, Campanile, Duomo Museum, and church crypt
(the church itself is free). Two good places to buy your ticket are at the rarely crowded
Duomo Museum and the Centro Arte e Cultura (a few steps north ofthe Baptistery at Piazza
di San Giovanni 7).
The Firenze Card (see
here
) also covers all of these sights (except the uninteresting
crypt).
Florence's Gothic cathedral has the third-longest nave in Christendom. The church's noisy
facade looks old, but it's actually Neo-Gothic, from the 1870s. Covered with pink, green,
and white Tuscan marble, the facade was rushed to completion (about 600 years after the
building began) to celebrate Italian unity, here in the city that briefly served as the young
country'scapital.Its“retro”lookismeanttocapturethefeeloftheoriginalmedievalfacade.
In the interior, you'll see a huge
Last Judgment
by Giorgio Vasari and Federico Zuccari
(inside the dome). Much of the church's great art is stored behind the church in the Duomo
Museum (which is partially closed for renovation until 2015).
The cathedral's claim to artistic fame is Brunelleschi's magnificent dome—the first
Renaissance dome and the model for domes to follow. Think of the confidence of the age:
The Duomo was built with a big hole in its roof, awaiting a dome...but it was built before
