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Florence's premier sculpture collection, once a prison, now a museum.
A private tour of the National Museum of Bargello, home to Renaissance sculpture by Donatello, Michelangelo, Ghiberti, and Della Robbia.
Learn about the colorful history of the building, which served as the headquarters of the Captain of the People and later a prison before becoming a museum, while admiring sculptures by Giambologna, Verrocchio, Michelangelo, and Donatello.
A popular starting point — every Voyzo itinerary is fully customizable, so we'll shape the order and stops around your group.
Meet directly at the Bargello Museum.
Works by Donatello, Michelangelo, Ghiberti, and Della Robbia.
Once a prison, now one of Florence's great sculpture museums.
Back to your hotel, home, or the airport — whenever your day wraps up.
A private tour of the National Museum of Bargello, home to Renaissance sculpture by Donatello, Michelangelo, Ghiberti, and Della Robbia. Learn about the colorful history of the building, which served as the headquarters of the Captain of the People and later a prison before becoming a museum, while admiring sculptures by Giambologna, Verrocchio, Michelangelo, and Donatello.
The Bargello building itself predates its art collection by centuries. Construction began in 1255 to house the Capitano del Popolo, the Captain of the People, and from 1261 it also served as the seat of the podestà, Florence's highest civic magistrate. In 1574 its role changed entirely: the building became a jail, and for nearly 300 years it functioned as the city's main prison, holding condemned criminals in the same halls now lined with sculpture. It only became a public museum in 1865, after a government decree set it aside specifically to showcase Tuscan art and civic history.
Among the sculpture inside is Donatello's bronze David, cast sometime in the 1440s and considered the first freestanding nude bronze statue made in Europe since antiquity, roughly six decades before Michelangelo ever picked up a chisel for his own, much larger marble version across town at the Accademia. Nobody recorded exactly who commissioned it, though most historians assume it was Cosimo de' Medici, a close friend and patron of Donatello's, since bronze on this scale was an extraordinarily expensive medium for the era.
Works by Michelangelo, Ghiberti, Verrocchio, and Giambologna fill out the rest of the collection, and because the Bargello draws far smaller crowds than the Uffizi or the Accademia, it's genuinely possible to stand in front of pieces like these without a crowd at your shoulder.
Every Voyzo tour is a starting point — tell us what you have in mind and we'll build it.
