Top Museums to visit across Tuscany
Tuscany houses many musuems with masterpieces by the greatest artists of all time, from Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, to Botticelli, Giotto and Donatello. Depending on your interests in history, art or sculpture - Tuscany has it all, spanning across time, styles and periods. Below, a list of the top museums in Tuscany that you should not miss!
Florence
Galleria degli Uffizi
The Uffizi Gallery is one of the world's top art museums - it houses some of the most important works of the Renaissance, including Leonardo da Vinci's Annunciation, Giotto's Maestà , Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Allegory of Spring and Michelangelo's only panel painting, the Holy Family. Lots of sculptures too. Most of the rooms you go through have a few masterpieces... Plan to spend the entire day there to thoroughly see it.
Galleria dell'Accademia
The Accademia houses Michelangelo's David, easily the most famous sculpture in the world. The line and wait can be long, so be prepared. Once inside, you'll also see Michelangelo's unfinished and powerful Prisoners, along with a few works by Perugino, Giambologna, and Botticelli.
Museo Nazionale del Bargello
Primarily a sculpture museum, you'll be treated to early Michelangelo marbles and Giambologna bronzes and then on to a room full of famous works by Donatello, considered by many the greatest sculptor since antiquity.
Palazzo Pitti
The Pitti Palace houses several important collections of paintings and sculpture, porcelain, silver and period costumes. The rooms contain works by Raphael, Rubens, Titian, Caravaggio, Andrea del Sarto, and countless others. Behind the Pitti Palace, you'll find the baroque Boboli Gardens which are also a must see when the weather is nice. One would need over a week to see everything in this large palace and its gardens.
Siena
Palazzo Comunale
Siena's medieval town hall houses the Museo Civico, with masterpieces of the late Gothic Sienese school, and the Torre del Mangia, which offers an extraordinary view of the Piazza del Campo and of Siena.
Pisa
Museo dell'Opera del Duomo
Near the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the museum features many artworks from the tower, cathedral and baptistry, including a magnificent ivory carving of the Madonna e Crocifisso by Giovanni Pisano. Another highlight is the bust known as the Madonna del Colloquio, also by Pisano, taken from the exterior of the baptistry.
Volterra
Museo Etrusco Guarnacci
Over 600 Etruscan cinerary urns fill dozens of rooms here. The tiny sarcophagi play out in stony relief the Etruscans' views on death, art, and life. The museum also displays Roman mosaics and rare examples of Etruscan, Greek and Roman coins and jewelry.