Galleria dell'Accademia Audio Guide

Galleria dell'Accademia: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Galleria dell'Accademia

   Welcome to the Galleria dell'Accademia, in the historic center of Florence. You'll find it in the northern part of Via Ricasoli, where the street meets Piazza San Marco. This art museum is chiefly famous for its sculptures by Michelangelo, and above all for his David, carved between 1501 and 1504. The museum is bigger than its star, though. Over the next few stops we'll look at how a teaching collection for art students turned into one of Italy's great museums, how the David ended up here, and what else is hiding in the rooms around it. There are painted altarpieces, models for sculptures, and even a collection of antique musical instruments. The Accademia is also hugely popular. In 2016 it welcomed 1.46 million visitors, which made it the second most visited art museum in Italy after the Uffizi. So keep your curiosity ready, because the best moments here often reward a slower look.

2. 02

   From Hospital and Convent to Art School Gallery

   The building has a life that long predates the museum. The Accademia occupies the old spaces of the Hospital of Saint Matthew and the Convent of Saint Niccolo of Cafaggio. Before it was a place of masterpieces, it was a place of care and prayer. The gallery itself was founded in the eighteenth century, in 1784, by Peter Leopold of Lorraine, Grand Duke of Tuscany. That is the same year the Academy of Fine Arts was founded. The idea was practical rather than glamorous. The halls displayed ancient artworks as models, so students of the Academy could learn by studying them. The collection then grew in a very historical way. Peter Leopold suppressed a number of convents and monasteries at the end of the eighteenth century, and Napoleon did the same in 1810. Paintings gathered from those religious houses flowed into the gallery. So when you stand among the older paintings, you are looking at pieces that once hung in the daily life of religious communities.

3. 03

   The Journey of the David

   Michelangelo's David was carved in marble between 1501 and 1504. For centuries it stood in Piazza della Signoria, exposed to the open air of the city. In 1873 it was transferred to the Accademia, where it has remained ever since. The move set up a long wait. The official history of the museum tells us that the most famous sculpture in the world waited nine years, in a wooden box, for the construction of the Tribune designed by the architect Emilio De Fabris to host it. The Galleria in its present form was established in 1882. The statue had one more brush with danger. In January 1943, during the Second World War, a brick shelter was built around the David to protect it from incendiary bombs. Picture the world's most admired nude figure sealed inside a plain brick hive, waiting out the war.

4. 04

   Beyond David: Models, Altarpieces and Instruments

   It's easy to arrive for one statue and leave without noticing the rest, but the Accademia tells a broader story about how art was created, taught and collected. Near the main entrance, look for the Colossi halls. Their centerpiece is the model of the Rape of the Sabine Women by the Flemish sculptor Giambologna, made in raw earth around 1582. The finished marble group stands in the Loggia dei Lanzi in Piazza della Signoria, so here you can see how a sculptor worked out an idea before the stone was touched. The paintings can feel like background in a museum dominated by sculpture, so slow down in the rooms of medieval and early Renaissance art. The religious panel paintings span the middle of the thirteenth century to the late sixteenth century. The gold-ground altarpieces preserve a Florence that existed before the Renaissance of the usual travel guides, and they form a bridge to the world that later produced Michelangelo. Then there is an unexpected wing of antique musical instruments, which came here from the Cherubini Conservatory. It reflects the passion of the Medici family for theater, ballet and music. The collection includes instruments by Stradivarius, Niccolò Amati and Bartolomeo Cristofori.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   As you move through the rooms, try holding on to the idea that this museum began as a classroom. Notice how many pieces here were meant to be studied, copied and learned from, and how others arrived from convents that no longer existed. The museum has been reshaped many times, too. In the 1950s, under the director Luisa Becherucci, the ground floor rooms were reorganized, and the Colossi halls took the form you can still feel today. Before you leave, ask yourself which object surprised you most. Was it the towering David, a quiet gold-ground panel, or a violin-family instrument by a famous maker? Then step back out toward Piazza San Marco and see what the neighborhood around the museum has to show you next.