Florence has conserved its masterpieces and great works of architecture over the centuries. The most important collection of paintings in the world is presented by the Uffizi Gallery; visitors can enter the very interesting Designs and Print Room; the collection of self-portraits. Great paintings can be seen in the Gallery of Palazzo Pitti, with Tiziano’s and Raffaello’s masterpieces. Florence also has the Museum of the Costume and the Museum of the Carriages; the beautiful Italian gardens can be admired in the Giardino di Boboli. In the Museum of the Opera del Duomo the famous "Pietà" by Michelangelo can be admired.

Some important museums in Florence:

The "Uffizi Gallery"

Address: Loggiato degli Uffizi, 6
Opening times: Tuesday - Sunday from 8.15 to 19.00
Phone: 055 238 8683 / Reservations phone: 055 294 883
Ticket: Euro 8,00 / Euro 4,00 for European citizens over 18 and under 25

Description: The Uffizi Gallery is one of the gratiest museums in Italy and the world. The Uffizi were intended to house the offices of the famous Medici family (Uffizi = offices). From the beginning, however, the Medici set aside certain rooms to house the finest works from their collections.
Today the Uffizi contains masterpieces by Italian and foreign artists from the 13th to the 18th century, such as Cimabue, Giotto, Masaccio, Beato Angelico, Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Piero della Francesca, Raphael, Caravaggio, along with Rubens, Rembrandt, Dürer, Goya and many others.

The "Accademy Gallery"

Address: Via Ricasoli, 58-60
Opening times: Tuesday - Sunday from 8.15 to 18.50
Phone: 055 238 8609 / Reservations phone: 055 294 883
Ticket: Euro 6,50

Description: The Accademy Gallery ("Galleria dell'Accademia") is one of the best known museums in Florence, because it houses famous sculptures by Michelangelo, including the "David", "The four prisoners" and the "Pieta of Palestina". There are also many paintings collected by the Grand Duke Peter Leopold to help the young Florentine artists, enrolled in the Academy of Arts school which is still next door to the gallery.

The National Museum "Il Bargello"

Address: Via del Proconsolo, 4
Opening times: Everyday from 8.15 to 13.50
Phone: 055 238 8606 / Reservations phone: 055 294 883
Ticket: Euro 4,00

Description: The National Museum "Il Bargello" has its setting in one of the oldest buildings in Florence and one of the most beautiful in Italy, which was begun in 1255. Initially the residence of the "Bargello" or head of police spies, from which it took its name, the building's use as a National Museum began in the mid-nineteenth century. What the Uffizi offers in painting, the Bargello offers in sculpture and its courtyard and interiors contain some of the masterpieces of the Tuscan Renaissance. It contains masterpieces by Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, Cellini, Giambologna and Donatello alognwith priceless ivories, enamels, jewels, tapestries and weapons.

The Museum of "San Marco"

Address: Piazza San Marco 3
Opening times: Monday - Friday from 8.15 to 13.50; Saturday and Sunday from 8.15 to 18.50
Phone: 055 238 8608 / Reservations phone: 055 294 883
Ticket: Euro 4,00

Description: It is worth visiting the setting of the MUSEUM OF SAN MARCO for its architecture alone. This consists of the former Dominican convent restored and enlarged to its present size for Cosimo the Elder de' Medici by his favourite architect Michelozzo (1396-1472). This building was the scene of fervent religious activity, highlighted by personalities such as Beato Angelico (1400-1450) and, later, Gerolamo Savonarola.

The Museum of the "Cathedral"

Address: P.za Duomo
Phone: 055 230 2885

Description: The Museum of the Cathedral ("Museo dell'Opera del Duomo") houses artworks from the Gothic Cathedral, the Baptisty and the Tower of Giotto (campanile). The most important works in the museum are by Michelangelo ("Pietà"), Donatello ("Mary Magdalen"), Arnolfo di Cambio ("Boniface VIII") and Luca della Robbia ("Cantoria").

The Museum of the "History of the Science"

Address: P.za Giudici, 1
Phone: 055 265 311
Ticket: Euro 6,50

Description: The Museum of the "History of the Science" houses an important collection of scientific instruments in a carefully arranged layout, the proof that Florence's interest in science from the thirteenth century onwards was as great as its interest in art.

Gallery of the "Hospital of the Innocents"

Address: Piazza SS. Annunziata, 12
Opening times: Everyday (except Wednesday, closed) from 8.15 to 14
Phone: 055 249 1708
Ticket: Euro 2,50

Description: Gallery of the "Hospital of the Innocents" is set in one of the best known and most important architectural complexes of the early fifteenth century in Florence. This was commissioned and financed by the Arte della Lana to the designs of Filippo Brunelleschi. The "hospital" aimed to raise abandoned children and teach them some useful trade enabling them to take their place in society. The Gallery contains also fine works of a collections made up over the centuries by gifts, bequestes and loans, apart from works, specifically executed for the Innocenti itself.