In Florence, it’s easy to blow the budget on museums. This is the city of Michelangelo’s David, Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and La Primavera, and a slew of other works that make it look like an art history textbook threw up here. Your biggest lire-suckers will be the Uffizi and Academy, which house the real rock stars of Italian art. These are great museums (especially if you have the patience to work your way through the Uffizi galleries; a great way to work off all that Tuscan cuisine), but one of my favorites is quietly nestled down the street and offers cheap and good times (just like….oh, nevermind).
Regular admission into il Museo del Bargello (the Bargello Museum) is just 4 Euro; over half the cost of getting into its big-sister counterparts. And it’s well worth it on a number of levels. The architecture of the museum itself is stunning. Built in 1255, it is one of the oldest buildings in Florence and has thrived with very few renovations in its time. What was a former residential palazzo has, for practically the last 200 years, served as a museum whose highlight is the sculpture. Larger pieces reside in the tranquil courtyard, and smaller pieces are tucked away in each room. The second floor offers more visual art as well as relics of life in a much simpler (though more opulent) time. The work of sculpture Giambologna is especially prominent here, and seeing his stuff will leave you wondering why you hadn’t covered him in a college seminar.
While 4 Euro is cheap as it is, there are more ways to dodge the bullet here. EU citizens between 18 and 25 and students at full-time Italian schools or universities can get in for one piccolo 2-Euro coin. And if you’re younger than 18/older than 65, a student of architecture, archeology, anthropology or cultural conservation, or have some ties to the International Council of Museums, it’s totally free. A hint: if you are convincing enough to the ticket booth that you are a student of art doing research on the Bargello for a thesis or special project, they’ll probably let you in for free. This is Italy, after all. And they may be most impressed that you got up between 8:15 am and 1:30 pm (the museum’s hours) to go see art.
Thanks, oar_square!
Museo del Bargello
Via del Proconsolo 4, 50122
055 294883
http://www.polomuseale.firenze.it/bargello/
