Museums

This museum was a property owned by Michelangelo. The house was converted into a museum dedicated to the artist by his great nephew, Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger. Its collections include two of Michelangelo's earliest sculptures, the Madonna of the Steps and the Battle of the Centaurs. The museum also houses paintings, sculptures, majolicas and archaeological sections.

The museum is open everyday except Tuesday from 9:30-14.

Casa Buonarroti
Via Ghibellina 70
50122 Florence, Italy
+39 055-241752
www.casabuonarroti.it
fond@casabuonarroti.it

The Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore is a lay institution founded by the Republic of Florence in 1296 to superintend the construction of the new Cathedral and the Campanile. As of 1436, the year in which Brunelleschi's dome was completed and the church was consecrated, the principal task of the Opera became that of conserving the monumental complex which was joined in 1777 by the Baptistry of San Giovanni and in 1891 by the Museum (Museo dell'Opera del Duomo - photo below) founded to house the works of art which, in the course of centuries, had been removed from the Duomo and the Baptistry. The museum is in Piazza Duomo, behind the dome.

The collection boasts masterpieces that range from the 14th to the end of the 16th centuries, and is characterized by the fact it is forced to expand continually as the result of the impossibility of conserving many other monuments in the open air where they are exposed to atmospheric pollution. The most famous work of art in the Museum is Michelangelo's Pietà which he had sculpted for his own tomb.

The museum is open Monday to Friday from 8-19 and on Saturday from 8-2.

Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore
via della Canonica, 1
50122 Florence, Italy
+39 055 2302885
www.operaduomo.firenze.it
opera@operaduomo.firenze.it

Orsanmichele is one of the most unique buildings in Florence and a great source of Florentine civic pride. It is famously known for the sculptures of saints placed in the niches or tabernacles on all four sides of the church by the various guilds of Florence. Executed between 1340 and 1602, together they form a timeline of gothic and renaissance art that is perhaps unrivaled in one location. The first sculpture, of St. Stephen by Andrea Pisano, was executed in 1340 - 150 years before Columbus discovered America - the last, St. Luke by Giambologna - was completed over 260 years later.

The Orsanmichele Museum is currently open on Mondays only from 10 AM to 5 PM.

Orsanmichele
Via Arte della Lana 1
Florence, Italy
+39 055-284-944
www.orsanmichele.net

The museum was founded by Frederick Stibbert (1836 - 1906), who was born into a huge inheritance from his grandfather and did not work for the rest of his life. Instead of working, Frederick Stibbert dedicated his life to collecting various objects, antiques, and artifacts and turned his villa into a museum. When the size of the collections outgrew the villa, Stibbert hired architect Giuseppe Poggi, painter Gaetano Bianchi and sculptor Passaglia to add on rooms. In 1906, when Stibbert died, his collection was given to the city of Florence and was opened to the public.

The villa has 57 rooms that exhibit all of Stibbert's collections from around the world. Most of the walls are covered in leather and tapestries and the rooms are crowded with artifacts. Paintings are displayed throughout every room, including still lifes and portraits. There is also valuable furniture, porcelains, Tuscan crucifixes, Etruscan artifacts, and an outfit worn by Napoleon I of France. It also contains around 12,000 pieces of European, Oriental, Islamic, Japanese arms and armour from the 15th century through the 19th century. The Cavalcade room is a grand hall filled with 14th-16th century knights on horseback and 14 foot soldiers dressed in armour and holding weapons. The collection of Samurai armour contains over 80 suits and hundreds of swords.

The museum is open Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 10-14, and on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10-18. Closed on Thursday.

Stibbert Museum
via Frederick Stibbert 26
50134 Florence
+39 055 475520
www.museostibbert.it
info@museostibbert.it

This information was updated on January 16, 2012

New dates for visiting the Vasari Corridor have just been announced - it is now scheduled to be open from January 17th to April 27th, 2012.

There are currently two ways to see the Corridor - do it yourself as described here, most likely with an Italian speaking guide (except on Fridays as mentioned in the comments below), or booking with a tour company. The first option is cheaper - but will take some diligence in calling Italy, the second is more expensive, but much easier.

The official website of the "Corridoio Vasariano" is here: http://www.uffizi.firenze.it/en/musei/index.php?m=vasariano.

If you want to try to make a reservation, call immediately - the Italian country code is 39, and the number to call is 055 294883. The best part - tickets are only €10.50 plus a €4 reservation fee.

Since we are Friends of the Uffizi (I will post about this soon) our entrance is actually free, and we will only have to pay the 4 euro reservation fee on the day we visit. Good luck!

Alternatively, if the tour sells out, or you can not get through, there is a tour company selling guided tours in English. This is a more expensive option, but it may be your last and best chance to see the corridor for years if it closes for renovations (as planned - but not done yet for a lack of funding).