The Michelangelo Tour

We will meet in Piazza San Marco, but we will start our tour right from the symbol of the Renaissance and the Florentine Republic, the “David”. With your guide in Florence, you will discover the history of the “Giant” and what makes this sculpture a masterpiece of the Renaissance. But there are other works of art by Michelangelo that deserve our admiration and we will discover them together.

After this important introduction in the carrier of the master of the Renaissance, your guide in Florence will take you to Piazza San Lorenzo, a typical Tuscan market that Florentines love. Here, Michelangelo showed his artistic genius also in architecture, creating the Laurentian Library and the Medici Chapels in Florence.

From the Medici quarter, we will continue our itinerary in the life and art of Michelangelo with the National Museum of Bargello that houses four works of art that confirm again the artistic perfection of the great Michelangelo.

Since we spoke a lot about the complicated life of the artist, his rude character, a guided visit to Buonarroti House, in the Quarter of Santa Croce in Florence, cannot be excluded. Here are housed the first two creations of the young Michelangelo, the “Madonna of the stairs” and “The Battle of the centaurs”.

We will end our tour in the same Quarter, Santa Croce in Florence, to discover the Michelangelo’s Tomb in the Basilica of Santa Croce. After his death in Rome, his body was taken and brought to Florence by his nephew.

After more than 400 years, the name of Michelangelo resonates in our memories. I hope that one day we will tell our sons and nephews the story of his life and above all, we will remember Michelangelo’s masterpieces in Florence. We will be proud to say: “I was there … at the Accademia Gallery of Fine Arts in Florence, at the Bargello Museum, at Buonarroti House, in Church Santa Croce …

The museum houses the most significant collection of Renaissance and Mannerist sculptures: we look at masterpieces like the Bronze David by Donatello, commissioned by the Medici and recently restored. We also see other works of art by the same artist and you will fully enjoy the brightly coloured works of glazed terracotta by Luca and Andrea della Robbia.

Our visit will focus on important sculptures by Michelangelo such as Bacchus, David-Apollon and the very famous Tondo Pitti, a fine example of “non-finito”.

Our guided tour will take you through medieval streets, to the nearby church of Santa Croce, Franciscan church, burial place of Michelangelo and many other distinguished Italians of the past.

The tomb of the artist, planned by the Medici family’s architect, Giorgio Vasari, reminds us of how in his life, the three major arts, sculpture, architecture and painting, always intertwined.

The Michelangelo tour culminates at the Gallery of the Academy, the richest museum concerning our artist: we will see his “unfinished” works, the Prisoners, made for the tomb of Pope Julius II and your guide will discuss with you Michelangelo’s later career in Rome. You will be moved by the feeling that the Palestrina Piet arouses on you.

Finally, the worldly known David, an icon of the Florentine Renaissance. You will be able to explore the statue in its full beauty as your guide will narrate the history, the events that brought to the birth of this absolute artwork.

In the atmospheric setting of the Bargello museum, a medieval palace used as a prison during the 16th century, we will visit the city’s most significant collection of Renaissance and ‘mannerist art’. One of the earliest works by Michelangelo on display here is the intriguing Bacchus, the clearest expression of the artist’s youthful sensuality.

We look at other significant works by Michelangelo too, including his Brutus, David-Apollo and the Tondo Pitti. The museum also hosts Donatello’s masterpiece, the bronze David, as well as the David by Verrocchio, another outstanding Renaissance work commissioned by the Medici and recently restored. Another highlight of the Bargello is the glazed terracotta work by Andrea and Luca Della Robbia.

On leaving the Bargello we stroll down the road to look round the imposing church of Santa Croce, where Michelangelo and other distinguished Italians are buried. The tour culminates with a trip to the Galleria dell’Accademia where we marvel at the mastery of Michelangelo’s David, his unfinished Prisoners and the Palestrina Pietà.

This above is a suggested itinerary only, if you wish to exclude some site or include others, please feel free to tell us.