Florence - Bargello Palace and National Museum Palazzo del Bargello (Museo Nazionale del Bargello)
The massive bulk of the sturdy tower and crenellated walls of the Bargello, the mighty palace that the citizens of Florence built after 1250 as testimony to their victory over the nobility, is one of the city's landmarks. Located in Piazza San Firenze, between Via del Proconsolo, Via delle Vigna Vecchia, Via dell'Acqua and Via Ghibellina, nowadays it houses the National Museum (Museo Nazionale del Bargello).
From 1261 it was the seat of the Podestà, the governing body of the city.
After 1502 this was the site of the Rota (ecclesiastical court) and prison, and in 1574 the palace became the seat of the Bargello (chief constable). In 1859 Italy's first national museum (outside the Vatican) was installed in the palace, which contains many important works by 14th-16th centuries. Tuscan artists, particularly Donatello, della Robbia and Michelangelo.
The Aquamunanle are bronze figures in the form of horses and riders. It is one of the best collections in Europe.
Two of the most important bronzes are the trial reliefs from the 1401 for the new doors of the baptistry of the Cathedral. It has major works by Donatello and Giavonni.
The bronze reliefs by Soldani are of exceptional importance.
Two rooms of the Bargello Palace in Florence contain the famous Medici coin collection that was started by Lorenzo de'Medici and constantly added to by his successors.
Other exhibits that can be seen on the second floor include tapestries and textiles from Florence, 13th-17th century weapons, and a collection of small bronzes.
In the Donatello Room the statues by Donatello include his "St George" (1416, marble statue formerly in a niche in the church of Orsanmichele), marble "David" (1408-1409), bronze "David" (made in 1430 for Cosimo the Elder), "St John as a Child" (Casa Martelli) and the "Marzocco Lion" (1420). Other artists represented in this room are Desiderio da Settignano, Vecchietta, Luca della Robbia and Bertoldo di Giovanni. Filippo Brunelleschi's and Lorenzo Ghiberti's models for the competition for the north portal of the Battistero complete the display.
Also to be seen on the first floor are frescoes in the Chapel of the Podestà, ivory carvings (Ivory Room), a collection of majolica (Majolica Room) and the work of enamellers and goldsmiths (Room of the Goldsmiths), while the Bruzzichelli Room has 16/17th century Tuscan furniture and glassware.
The courtyard of the Bargello Palace in Florence is worth visiting for its architecture alone. It is surrounded on three sides by an arcade (round arches, octagonal columns, groin valuting). On the fourth side an open staircase leads to the upper floors. Pillars and walls are decorated with the coats of arms of the Podestà, the members of the Rota and the quarters and boroughs of the city. In the center of the courtyard is an octagonal fountain, and nearby the site of the scaffold when the Bargello was also a prison.
Today the courtyard and arcade are used to display sculpture, and hold works by Niccolò di Piero Lamberti, Vincenzo Danti, Cosimo Cenni, Vincenzo Gemito, Bartolomeo Ammannati, Domenico Poggini and Giambologna.
The Loggia on the first floor has Giambologna's bronze statue of Mercury (1564) and his important allegory of "Architecture", as well as sculpture by Baccio Bandinelli and Francesco Moschino.
The tasteful courtyard leads into the rooms containing works by Michelangelo: a marble "Brutus" (ca. 1540); "Madonna and Child with the young John the Baptist", a tondo carved for Bartolomeo Pitti about 1504; "David" (ca. 1531), also known as "Little Apollo",; "Drunken Bacchus", Michelangelo's first large sculpture (1497-1499).
Other works are by 16th century artists. Worthy of particular mention are Jacopo Sansovino's Bacchus (ca. 1520, the bronze bust of Michelangelo by Daniele da Volterra, the bust of Cosimo I by Benvenuto Cellini (1557) and other of Cellini's works, including his marble statue of Narcissus (1540).
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