BARGELLO MUSEUM

As massive and severe as a fortress, it's located very close to Palazzo Vecchio. This stone palace was worked on many different times since the mid-1200s, also incorporating an older tower. The large mass dominated by the tower almost seems like the symbol of the ancient Florentine Republic: austere, solid, and noble. The "bargello" that gave the building its name was the head of the police, and in fact the judicial offices and detention cells were here; in the 14th-century courtyard, capital executions were held.

It was only in the second half of the 1800s that the palace was chosen as the home for an "industrial arts" museum, first with ceramics, enamels, medals, and bronzes, then also including Renaissance sculpture. Thanks to the contributions of other museums, it has compiled an extraordinary exhibition of works from between the 14th and 17th centuries, with its biggest masterpieces by Donatello and Michelangelo. By the end of the 19th century, the museum was even further enriched thanks to a donation by the French collector Louis Carrand consisting of about three thousand splendid objects created by medieval goldsmiths.