Galleria dell’Accademia – for Michelangelo’s David

Most visitors dutifully come to gasp over Michelangelo’s David and then call it a day, scarcely realising that this is one of the city’s finest galleries. Although many treasures have moved to the Uffizi and San Marco, the remaining array of Florentine Byzantine and Gothic art justifies a visit. Even so, the added inducement of a certain Michelangelo is what pulls in the crowds. The colossal statue of David was carved between 1501 and 1504 from a single piece of marble. The masterpiece established Michelangelo as the foremost sculptor of his time before the age of 30. The foremost sculptor of his age, or arguably of all time, is well represented by his magnificently unfinished Four Slaves and by the authentic David, the centrepiece of the museum. Even if his paintings have a rare sculptural quality, only the sculpted naked body can express Michelangelo’s most sublime concepts. When criticising the gigantism of the work, remember that the statue was intended for a large civic space, not designed to be cooped up in a corner of a museum. To Florentines, the statue became both the symbol of liberty and a symbol of the artistic aspirations of the city. The statue now standing in front of the Palazzo Vecchio is an impressive copy.

Address: Via Ricasoli 60, Florence
Web: www.galleriaaccademiafirenze.beniculturali.it/