Galleria dell'Accademia

The David was carved between 1501 and 1504 from a block other sculptors had given up on, and it stood outside the Palazzo Vecchio until 1873, when it was moved indoors and a copy took its place in the square. The Accademia was rebuilt around it, with a purpose-made tribune under a skylight at the end of a long hall. The four unfinished Prisoners line that hall, blocked out for a tomb never completed, the figures half released from the stone, and many people find them the more interesting work. Beyond Michelangelo there is Florentine panel painting, a room of plaster models by Lorenzo Bartolini, and historic instruments from the Medici collection.

History

The gallery was founded in 1784 by Pietro Leopoldo, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and in 2016 it had 1.46 million visitors, the second most visited art museum in Italy after the Uffizi (Wikipedia, Galleria dell'Accademia).

What to look for

• The David - indoors since 1873, with a copy standing where it used to.
• The Prisoners - four unfinished figures, half out of the block.
• The Bartolini plaster casts - a room of models with their measuring pins still in.
• The instrument collection - Medici instruments, including work by Stradivari.

When to go

Book a timed slot; without one the queue on the street runs for hours in season. The first slots of the morning and the last of the evening are the quietest. The gallery closes on Mondays. November to February is much easier than any other part of the year, and Florence itself is better then too.

Practical notes

It is a small museum with one famous object, and the price is high for the time most people spend inside. The hall around the David is loud and full of raised phones. Everything else in the collection is good rather than exceptional. The copy in Piazza della Signoria stands where the original did, outdoors and free.

Nearby

San Marco and its Fra Angelico frescoes are next door; the Duomo is ten minutes south.

Key facts