Stefano Bardini Museum
The collection of Florentine antiquarian Stefano Bardini
In 1881, Stefano Bardini—a prominent antiquarian and collector—commissioned and partly designed the construction of an imposing neoclassical building on the site of the pre-existing Church of San Gregorio della Pace and the adjoining convent, which were incorporated, also encompassing architectural pieces and decorative elements from other churches and noble residences.
The building was constructed as an exhibition gallery for the purpose of housing a series of workshops for the restoration of artworks, to be later sold, along with the antiquarian’s collection counting more than 3,600 works including sculptures, paintings, furniture, ceramics, tapestries, carpets, wedding chests, weapons and musical instruments, from the Roman age to the Baroque.
The collection was later transformed by Baldini himself into a permanent exhibition and upon his death (in 1922), as per his will, donated to the City of Florence to create the Stefano Bardini Museum.
Works include pictorial and sculptural masterpieces such as Tino di Camaino’s Charity, Donatello’s Madonna of the Cords, glazed terracottas by Della Robbia, drawings by Tiepolo and Antonio del Pollaiolo’s Saint Michael the Archangel.
Two rooms on the ground floor are dedicated to Florence and its history, with the originals of representative works such as Pietro Tacca’s Porcellino (the original of the famous boar fountain known as the Porcellino), the gilded Marzocco from the architrave of the Palazzo Vecchio, and Giambologna’s devilishly cute Diavolino—or, the Little Devil—from the intersection of Via dei Vecchietti and Via Strozzi.
The walls of the museum are themselves an attraction. The shade of blue with which they are painted is in fact the famous Blu Bardini, a prized color replicated in the mansions of other collectors and nobles around the world.
For information on accessibility: feelflorence.it
