Accademia Gallery and Medici Chapels

The Accademia Gallery is the most important stop for all those who wish to admire Michelangelo's original David. This is only one of his masterpieces on display, others including the Palestrina Pietà, Saint Matthew and the four unfinished Prisoners.

In the Room of the Colossus we can admire the plaster model for Jean de Boulogne's most famous work, the Rape of the Sabine Women, which is now at the Loggia dei Lanzi, in Piazza della Signoria. There is also a representative selection of XVI century Florentine masterpieces in this room.

The Accademia also houses works by Tuscan painters of the XIV and XV centuries, many statues by XIX century sculptors and the collection of musical instruments on loan from the Conservatoire, which includes two of the three surviving instruments of the Medici String Quintet, built by Stradivarius for the Grand Duke.

After the Accademia we take a short walk to the Medici Chapels. There are two chapels: Michelangelo's Old Sacristy, where there are some of the master's most famous sculptures; and the Princes' Chapel (La Cappella dei Principi), the largest construction in the world entirely decorated with semiprecious stones, using the typical Florentine technique of the commesso fiorentino, creating "paintings" in stone.