MEETING MICHELANGELO

Follow the trail to find out more about the exceptional life, extraordinary career and priceless artistic legacy of an incomparable genius. Born in 1475, Michelangelo is widely known both as the leading light of the Renaissance and the world’s all time greatest artist. His remarkable achievements in the fields of sculpture, painting and architecture were to wield an unparalleled influence on the evolution of Western art. Michelangelo’s works masterfully blend exquisite craftsmanship, emotional depth and physical realism that still today, almost five hundred years after their completion, continue to astound, to impress and to profoundly move onlookers. “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it,” declared the master as he freed his creations from the blocks of marble that imprisoned them. Scattered over the city’s galleries and churches, Florence proudly displays some of Michelangelo’s most cherished works. This tour, comprising three sites, will allow you to gain familiarity with the artist’s wide-ranging production and prodigious talent.

Michelangelo was only 26 years old when he was commissioned with the creation of a sculpture originally intended to adorn the buttresses of the cathedral. When his celebrated statue of David was unveiled in 1504, it became clear that the grandeur and intensity of the masterpiece demanded the more prestigious setting of Piazza della Signoria where a copy stands today. Housed inside the Accademia Gallery since 1873, this colossal 5.17 metre marble wonder embodies the Renaissance criteria of perfection and was immediately reputed by the artist’s contemporaries to be a symbol of strength and heroism – an emblem of the city of Florence itself. Your guide will lead you through the museum’s halls and throw light on the artist’s sculptures exhibited here, including the unfinished Prisoners and his statue of Saint Matthew.

After browsing the gallery, make your way to the Bargello Museum, located inside one of Florence’s oldest buildings. Built in 1255, the palazzo was originally the official residence of the Podestà, Florence’s supreme governing magistrate. Its name derives from the Bargello, the city’s police chief, who resided here in the 16th century when the premises were occupied by a prison. Since 1865 it has been the setting for a superb collection of Renaissance sculptures, including works by Della Robbia, Verrocchio, Cellini and Giambologna. Here you will admire four of Michelangelo’s works: Bacchus, carved when the artist was only 22 and among his rare non-religious, classical-themed creations; the unfinished Tondo Pitti, a bas-relief of a Madonna and Child; the fearless bust of Brutus, probably representing the murderer Lorenzino de’ Medici; the so-called David-Apollo, whose subject remains a mystery.

The last stop on this tour will bring you to the New Sacristy of the Basilica of San Lorenzo where the beautifully carved funerary monuments of notable members of the Medici family are kept. Between 1521 and 1534 Michelangelo designed the structure, devised the sophisticated underlying symbolism of the chapel and created some of its most magnificent sculptures. These include the allegorical figures of Day, Night, Dusk and Dawn and the statues of Duke of Urbino Lorenzo and Duke of Nemours Giuliano. Here you will deepen your understanding of the prime role played by the Medici patrons in the development of Michelangelo’s artistic career and the pre-eminence of the New Sacristy among the great accomplishments of Renaissance sculpture and architecture.