The great museum of Renaissance sculpture in a medieval fortress
The Bargello, a crenellated palace of the thirteenth century, was first the seat of the city's chief magistrate, then its police headquarters and prison. Since 1865 it has been Italy's national museum of sculpture, and one of the least crowded treasures of Florence.
Here you can see Donatello's bronze David, the first free-standing nude since antiquity, his St George, Michelangelo's drunken Bacchus and Brutus, Verrocchio's David, Giambologna's flying Mercury and the two panels that Brunelleschi and Ghiberti submitted in 1401 for the Baptistery doors competition, the starting point of the Renaissance. The courtyard with its staircase and coats of arms is beautiful in itself.
Tip: the museum is compact and can be seen in an hour and a half; it often has shorter queues than the Uffizi and the Accademia.
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