the bargello national museum

Besides the Uffizi Gallery and Pitti Palace, the Bargello Museum or Museo Nazionale del Bargello is one of Florence’s most important museums. It was formerly a barracks and prison in Florence, Italy, until it became an art museum. The Museum holds one of the most important collections of Renaissance Tuscan sculpture, including works by Donatello, Della Robbia, Verrocchio, and Michelangelo, as well as medieval French ivories, Italian majolicas, and arms.

History of the Bargello Museum

After Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo abolished capital punishment in 1786, the Bargello was used as a prison. Consequently, executions were no longer performed at the Bargello from this point forward. Until 1859, the Bargello served as the headquarters of the Florentine police. As a result of Pietro Leopoldo II’s exile, the makeshift Governor of Tuscany decided that the Bargello should become a museum instead of a jail.

There is an external staircase leading to the second floor of the Bargello, which was designed around an open courtyard. The courtyard is centered by an open well.

The Bargello Museum opened in 1865, displaying the largest Italian collection of Gothic and Renaissance sculptures (14-17th century). Donatello, Luca della Robbia, Verrocchio, Michelangelo, and Cellini all contributed masterpieces to this museum.

As well as sculptures, the Bargello contains a large collection of decorative and applied arts, including oriental goods, manuscripts, textiles, majolica, ivories, jewels, weapons, carpets, glassware, etc. As the Italian collection at Bargello was largely academically based in the form of paintings and sculptures, these artifacts greatly enhance it. Louis Carrand, Giulio Franchetti, Stefano Bardini, and Frederick Stibbert donated most of the collection around the 19th century, after the Medici family began it.

The Bargello Tower

The Bargello Tower embodies the grandeur of the Palazzo. Along with the Arnolfo Tower in Palazzo Vecchio, they symbolize the two powers of medieval Florence. The Podestà, during the communal Florence era, held functions similar to those of the current President of the Constitutional Court.

With the rise of Medici power, the Podestà’s palace became the Bargello Palace, where criminal justice was administered, including trials, legalized torture, and death sentences with their corresponding executions. The Bargello Museum became a site of pain and despair until 1782 when all torture instruments were burned in the inner Courtyard. Finally, in 1786, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany became the first state to abolish capital punishment.

Florence as the Capital and the Establishment of the Museum

With the advent of Florence as the capital in 1865, coinciding with the centenary of Dante’s birth, the Provisional Government of Tuscany decided to establish the first National Museum to safeguard the masterpieces of the great Italian Renaissance sculpture, mainly works by Donatello and Michelangelo.

The Bargello Museum thus became the Museum of Sculpture and Decorative Arts.

National Museum of the Bargello – What to See

The Bargello artworks span all palace floors, including the Courtyard and the Verone.

The ground floor is dominated by Michelangelo and his Bacco (Bacchus): the sculpture depicts a drunken and staggering Bacchus, accompanied by a mischievous child satyr who secretly bites into a grape. It results from the encounter between the twenty-year-old sculptor and the beauty of antiquity admired first in the Gardens of San Marco in Florence and later during his stay in Rome.

Other essential works on the ground floor of the Bargello include the Madonna and Child (Pitti Tondo), the Ganymede, and the portrayal of Cosimo by Cellini, the celebration of Florence’s victory over Pisa by Giambologna, and Leda and the Swan by Bartolomeo Ammannati.

The Donatello Room

On the first floor, we find the Donatello Room, where one can fully understand the genesis of the Florentine Renaissance. Here we encounter Donatello’s David, a bronze masterpiece that surprises us with its originality and innovative strength compared to the period in which it was created (1435-1440).

The need for more documents has always led to debate regarding its commission, chronology, ideology, and symbolism. Nineteenth-century sources place it in the center of the Courtyard of the Medici Palace (in via Larga) for the marriage of Lorenzo the Magnificent and Clarice Orsini. Vasari later mentions it at the center of the Courtyard in Palazzo Vecchio.

A few years later, we have Verrocchio’s David, a different interpretation where young and vibrant David proudly revels in his victory. It is both a cruel and charming representation. Then there’s Donatello’s San Giorgio, commissioned by one of the minor guilds, the Swordmakers and Armorers, and destined for Orsanmichele.

Finally, there’s Donatello’s marble David, commissioned in 1408 for the apse of the Santa Maria del Fiore. It was never placed on the buttress of the tribune, and in 1416, it was sent to Palazzo Vecchio, where the artist modified it to make it bold and proud.