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"Museums in Florence"

BRANCACCI CHAPEL (Cappella Brancacci, Chiesa del Carmine, Piazza del Carmine)
Open: 10:00-17:00; 13:00-17:00 on holidays
Closed: Tuesday
Admission: £ 6000; reduced £ 4500 (under 25 years of age) and £ 1800 (students)
Tel. 055/2382195
The Brancacci Chapel is one of the most important masterpieces of the sacred art that fills the city. It is located in the right transept of the church of Santa Maria del Carmine, but the entrance is found in the adjacent convent that surrounds the cloister. The patrons from the middle of the 1300's to 1780 were the Brancacci family, and it was originally decorated according to the wishes of Felice Brancacci, a Florentine politician and enemy of the Medici, who called upon the artists Masaccio and Masolino. In 1480, many years after Masaccio's death, the decorations of the chapel were completed by Filippino Lippi. The three artists painted stories of Peter and the salvation of mankind realized by Christ's self-sacrifice. After the political fall of the Brancacci, the Carmelites dedicated the chapel to the Madonna del Popolo from the sacred image of the Madonna, still visible today on the altar, attributed to Coppo di Marcovaldo and the Master of S. Agata.

Museo Marino Marini (Piazza San Pancrazio)
Open: 10:00- 17:00
Closed: Tuesday
Admission: £ 8000; reduced £ 4000
Tel. 055/219432
The Marino Marini Museum is dedicated to modern art. Possibly unique in its kind in a city as rich in art as Florence, this museum is an example of the excellent results of what we can define an experiment in modern architecture: the exhibit space, in fact, was excavated from the ancient foundations of the 14th Century church of San Pancrazio. This church, with noble families like the Rucellai as patrons, underwent continual works of renovation and restoration starting in the 1400's until 1808 when nothing more could be done in terms of recovery. From that date it was destined for diverse functions: first it was the Prefect's headquarters and then, after 1883 and the auction of its furnishings, was destined to be the property of Royal Tabacco Manufacturing, and was seriously delapidated both inside and out. After the fire of 1921 it was well restored and used as a storeroom of the nearby barracks. Only in the early 1970's was the recovery of this precious property begun on a project of the architects Lorenzo Papi and Bruno Sacchi who, instead of a simple restoration, wanted to make a museum out of it. Since 1988 it has displayed works by Marino Marini, the artist from Pistoia from whom it now takes its name.

THE GREAT HOME COMINGS OF THE UFFIZI (Uffizi Gallery - Loggiato degli Uffizi, 6)
Open: 8:15 am - 6:30 pm
Closed: Mondays
Admission: L. 15.000
Fresh from its restoration the beauty of the Annunciation by Simone Martini and by his brother-in-law Lippo Memmi has returned since April 9 to shine again in the Uffizi Gallery. It consists in a great altarpiece (three meters times two), a masterpiece by the artist, almost an artistic testament, conceived for the cathedral of Siena. The art work, signed and dated 1333, was worked on for three years before Martini left for Avignone where the maestro died in 1344. The Annunciation, currently exposed in hall 38, at the exit from the gallery, with the photographic documentation of the various phases of the restoration, will return to hall 3 dedicated to the 14th century Siena. The restoration, which lasted 9 months, has brought back to life the polished and vivid colours of the Triptych as well as the brightness of the gold and was accomplished by Alfio Del Serra and financed by the Fondazione Cassa di risparmio di Pistoia and Pescia chaired by Ivano Paci.

PITTI: MUSEUM OF MUSEUMS
Inside it many museums find their home: the Silver Museum, the Palatina Gallery, the real Apartments, the Modern Art Gallery, the Carriage Museum, the Porcelain Museum and the open-air museum of the Boboli Gardens. It was built around the middle of the XV century by the Florentine banker Luca di Buonaccorso Pitti who gave the commission to Filippo Brunelleschi. The project was then realized by his pupil Luca Fancelli. Originally the palace was of a cubic shape, composed of three doors and 7 windows, corresponding to the Renaissance ideal of symmetric harmony.

MUSEO NAZIONALE DEL BARGELLO
Museum: 8:30-14:00 daily
Closed on the 2nd and 4th Monday AND 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month. Location: Via del Proconsolo, Phone: 055-238 8606 This building was the first monumental public building of the council, which was the seat of the Podestà, (the chief magistrate) and in the sixteenth century became a prison (from which it acquired its current name, from the chief of police, the bargello, which means "sbirro"), and in 1865 a superb collection of sculpture from the Florentine Renaissance and an assembly of small renaissance bronzes was installed, including works of art by Michelangelo, Donatello, Cellini and Gianbologna.

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