Florence, or Firenze in Italian, is widely considered the birthplace of the Renaissance and many of the Renaissance artists and the forefathers of the Renaissance lived in Florence or spent time here. Needless to say, many of their masterpieces are housed in Florentine museums.
Uffizi Gallery
The Uffizi Gallery has one of the greatest collections of Italian painting. These are some of the highlights:
The Ognissanti Madonna by Giotto
The Birth of Venus by Botticelli
The Holy Family by Michelangelo
Madonna and Child With St. John by Raffaello
The Annunciation by Da Vinci
The Bargello Museum
The Bargello Museum is small museum which houses a number of sculptures.
Bacchus by Michelangelo
The Pitti Tondo by Michelangelo
St. George by Donatello
David by Donatello (1408)
David by Verrocchio
David by Donatello (1440)
The Accademia Gallery
Speaking of David’s, the Accademia Gallery is home to the most famous David sculpted by Michelangelo in 1504. This statue which is 17 feet tall took our breaths away. The second picture highlights the level of detail that Michelangelo created.
The gallery also exhibits a series of unfinished Michelangelo statues titled the prisoners. You can see the chisel marks on these unpolished statues.
Duomo Museum
The Duomo museum has a number of art pieces that used to decorate Florence’s Duomo, Baptistery, and Campanile. They were removed from these buildings to protect them from the elements.
Ghiberti’s Gates of Pardise Baptistery Door
Relief panels from the Campanile
Donatelli’s Mary Magdeline
Michelangelo’ Pieta
