Accademia Gallery Guided Tour
ACCADEMIA GALLERY GUIDED TOUR - Vip small group
Accademia Gallery Vip Small Group Guided Tour in English
Language: English
Frequency: every day except Monday.
From 1 November to 31 March, this tour takes place every day at 1:00 pm only.
Tour Starting times: 11.30 am - 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Duration: about 1 hour (guided service - 1 hour and 30 minutes totally)
Meeting time: please arrive 15 minutes before the tour starting time.
Price: 59,00 euro per person
Price includes: art-history-expert professional guide, skip-the-line ticket and earphones for groups with more than 5 participants.
This tour will take place rain or shine and from 1 participant onwards
Children: free under 3 years of age. Children 4-12 years old reduced ticket.
Meeting point with your guide: instructions on the confirmation voucher.
MAJOR ADVANTAGE: the visit uses only one single language at a time. Timed Entry, no need to queue. Don’t waste precious time waiting in long lines. Enter with us.
CANCELLATION POLICY FOR THIS TOUR
From reservation day up to 9 days prior to tour date, cancellation penalty is 20% of total tour price.
If cancellation conveys between 8 to 4 days prior to tour date, cancellation penalty is 40% of total tour price.
For cancellations communicated to Italy Travels from 3 days prior to tour date, cancellation penalty is 100% of total price, therefore no reimbursement will be granted.
YOUR GUIDED TOUR TO THE ACCADEMIA GALLERY IN FLORENCE
Accademia Gallery is the second most visited museum in Florence. Why? Because in this wonderful gallery is conserved the symbol of the city of Florence: the Michelangelo's David. The monumental icon has a long important history: the colossal piece of marble was worked by the genius of Michelangelo between 1501 and 1504.
This masterpiece symbolizes the politician power of the Florentine against the Medici's domain, for this reason its first location was Signoria Square. To preserve the statue from atmospheric agents it was decided to move it inside the Accademia Gallery and for the occasion the Tribuna of Michelangelo was built by Emilio de Fabris. This important museum is the crib of other beautiful works by Michelangelo: the Prisoners and Saint Matthew. This last work tells the brilliant technique of Michelangelo Buonarroti: the unfinished; thanks to this new way of sculpting, this incredible artist has created a more spititual vision of the works, leaving space for the spitituality that creeps into the strong white marble.
In the first room of the museum another important work of Florence is preserved: the Rape of sabine women by Giambologna. This plaster statue is the preparatory work of the marble work located under the Loggia dei Lanzi in Signoria Square. The characteristic of this statue is the powerful dynamism of the three fugures that make this a work to be observed at 360 degrees.
Even though it is a small museum, very important masterpieces are in Accademia Gallery. this museum is a treasure chest that we suggest to visit of sure!
Focus on the history of the Accademia Gallery
The David Museum, the Accademia Gallery in Florence
In 1784, the grand duke Leopold of Lorraine transferred the Accademia di Belle Arti, founded in 1563, from the Santissima Annunziata to where it is today.
He provided an exhibition gallery dedicated to Florentine art which allowed students to study painting and sculpture. Over the centuries the collection has been modiefied and enriched. Many of the works come from the closure of the convents but also from the return of exhibits from the Uffizi.
The Accademia Gallery in Florence is reached through the Anticolossus Room so called for the plaster of one of the Dioscuri of Montecavallo in Rome, which was placed there in the last century.
Exhibits include a stutue by Giambologna, The Rape of the Sabines, a Pietà by Andrea del Sarto and a deposition by Filippo Lippi. In 1873, Michelangelo's David was transferred from Piazza della Signoria, and for it, at a later date, the scenographic Tribune was designed. This is reached through the Gallery of the Prisoners where there are other works by Michelangelo: Saint Matthew, the Pietà Palestrina and the four famous Prisoners, destined to JuliusII's mausoleum. In three Florentine Rooms are paintings from the 1400's documenting the production of the main Florentine studios at the time of Masaccio, Piero della Francesca and Botticelli, the latter's Madonnawith Child can be seen here.
To the side of the Tribune of David are paintings by Florentine artists from 1500's, such as Venus by Pontormo. Of particular interest are the plaster casts in the so called Room of the Eighteenth Century, prepared in that epoch to house casts of two Tuscan sculptors of the period: Lorenzo Bartolini and Luigi Pampaloni. The Byzantine Rooms have works from the 1200's to the mid 1300's, by contemporaries of Giotto, such as Pacino di Buonaguida, Taddeo Gaddi and Orcagna.
Accademia Tour: the Itinerary
Why is the David the most recognizable symbol of Florence and what did he represent in his time? How did the genius of Michelangelo confront the challenge of creating figures of compassion like the Pietà, or the famous Prisoners who still seem to struggle free from their marble blocks? Have a close encounter with these timeless works of art and get the inside story of the life and time of this consummate artist. The Academy also houses an important collection of paintings from the 14th to the 16th century, plaster casts of famous statues going back to the 19th century, and impressive holdings of Russian icons. Linger as long as you like; at the end of the tour, you are welcome to remain in the galleries on your own until closing time.
