Latest News
This section offers the latest news from the museum, on planned events and more.
The Accademia Gallery, usually closed on Mondays, will be open on December 7th to offer visitors to Florence the chance to visit over the long holiday of the Immaculate (December 8th).
The Accademia will be open from 8:15am until 6:50pm (last entrance for the Accademia it is at 6:20pm). Normal admission cost applies. The day, being a special opening, cannot be booked online – it can only be booked by phone at 055-294-883.
Also remember that the day before, on December 6th, entrance into these all State museums in Florence (including the Uffizi, Medici Chapels and the Bargello), will be FREE entry to everyone as part of the “Sunday at the Museum” initiative where the first Sunday of every month is free.
If the line is too long on Sunday, we really suggest waiting and going on Monday!
A German woman, Cecilie Hollberg, is to be the new director of the Accademia Gallery in Florence. The Accademia, second museum in Italy for its total number of visitors after the Uffizi Gallery, has the most sculptures by Michelangelo in the world (seven), including the famous David.
Hollberg is one of seven foreigners selected to head some of the top museums in Italy: the Uffizi Gallery in Florence will have another German, Eike Schmidt, while a French woman will lead the Museum of Capodimonte in Naples and the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan will be run by a Canadian-English man (James Bradburne, who up until a few months ago was the director of the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence).
The announcement came yesterday from MiBACT as the international competition drew to a close with the selection of the 20 new directors of some of Italy’s top museums. Four of the 13 Italians selected will return to Italy after important experiences abroad, while the winds, 10 are men, 10 are women.
Hollberg, 48, art historian and cultural manager, born in Soltau in Lower Saxony, completed her university studies in history and political science in Rome, Göttingen, Monaco, Germany, Venice and Trento. In 2001, she received her doctorate in medieval history in Göttingen.
Since 2010, Hollberg has been director of the Städtisches Museum in Brunswick. Previously, she worked as a curator and scientific-technical officer in the museum sector in Leipzig, Dresden and Berlin. She teaches at universities in Germany and Switzerland and is the author of numerous publications.
This year, the Accademia Gallery will NOT have a special opening on the evening of April 30th as part of the city’s “White Night” program nor will it be open on May 1st. There was no agreement between the employee unions to have enough staff to open the museum for the times that were necessary for the museum to be open. The museum will remain open on April 30th until normal closing times, which is 18.50.
If you’re in Florence on April 30th and May 1, take a look at this post which has a list of museums that will be open for the White Night and on May 1st.
The museum is open on May 2nd and 3rd; on May 3rd entrance will be free for everyone as part of Italy’s “First Sunday of the Month” cultural initiative offering free entrance to all State museums.
The Accademia Gallery will be open on Easter Sunday, April 5th, with its regular hours (8.15am-6.50pm) and with FREE entrance to everyone (as it is the first Sunday of the month).
It will also have a special opening on Monday, April 6th, again with normal hours but with normal paid entrance. You can pre-book tickets for Monday online, but not for Sunday.
Take time to visit the special temporary exhibit dedicated to St. Francis that just opened yesterday at the Accademia.
See you this weekend!
Between December 18th and 21st, Florence and Tuscany were rocked by more than 200 earthquakes, the highest at magnitude 3.8 and 4 on the Richter scale. The epicenter for most was in Chianti, the wine-growing region, between Florence and Siena. While there were no injuries nor major damages reported, many people fled their homes in Greve, 30 km (about 20 miles) south of Florence, as they feared more serious quakes. By Christmas Day, most of the quakes in Tuscany had subsided, moving south with tremors felt between Arezzo and Perugia, then Molise and even in Calabria (although experts say they are not connected).
This has prompted the Italian government to speed up plans planned for a new pedestal for Michelangelo‘s David for extra protection. Dario Franceschini, the Culture Minister, said the funds of € 200,000 would be provided by the Italian State to build an anti-seismic platform beneath the almost 17 foot (5.16 meter) statue in the Accademia Gallery. Earlier this year, Italian scientists reported that the statue, created by Michelangelo between 1501 and 1504 (see more facts here), was in danger of collapsing because of tiny fractures in its ankles: tests confirmed fears that it had been weakened by its own weight of more than five tons as well as by damage from traffic and vibrations caused by the millions of tourists who flock to see it every year.
“The earthquake in Florence fortunately did not damage the government’s cultural assets,” Mr Franceschini said as he announced funding to save the statue. “But it has made the need to approve this project even more urgent. A masterpiece like David must not be left to any risk.”
Earthquakes are common in Italy, so scientists have been at the forefront of developing anti-seismic bases made of marble to protect the country’s vulnerable statues. A special plinth was developed for the 2,500-year-old statues known as the Bronzes of Riace in the southern city of Reggio Calabria. The two warriors, discovered in the sea in 1972, stand on two square marble plinths lined with spheres that are designed to roll when the statues are placed under pressure.
The last major earthquake in Italy was in April 2009, of 6.3 magnitude on Richter scale and killed 309 people in L’Aquila.
During this holiday season, the Accademia Gallery will be closed only on December 25th, December 29th and January 1st.
It will have a special opening on Monday, January 5th during the weekend of the Epiphany on January 6th.
A great chance to see the new lighting and setup of the Florentine Gothic rooms and the special exhibit of the marble Arnina right alongside the gesso statue by Lorenzo Bartolini.
This past Monday, the three Florentine Gothic Rooms, also called the “Byzantine” rooms, got a face-lift. The lighting in all three rooms has been modernized and offers a much clearer and brighter view of the masterpieces held within, including works by Giotto, the Orcagna brothers and Taddeo Gaddi, among others.
All the works also have new and updated descriptive displays in English and Italian. The biggest change of all has been the repositioning of several of the works within. The large altarpiece by Jacopo di Cione of the Incoronation of the Virgin found in the Orcagna room (to the left as you enter from the Tribune corridor) has been moved to the center of the far wall so that it can be admired more fully as you walk in, with better lighting.
The Giottesque Room to the right is one with the most changes, where you’ll see the formelle by Taddeo Gaddi coming from the Basilica of Santa Croce. Smaller format paintings are nor within a glass case, to better protect them – they had been fully exposed up to now.
View of the “Giottesque Room”
This summer, from July 1st through September 30th, the Accademia Gallery will have extended hours every Tuesday, closing at 10pm. Normal entrance fees will apply.
During this period, the Accademia Gallery is hosting the exhibition “The Fortunes of the Primitives (June 24-December 8), so tickets during extended hours will include the full price ticket that includes a visit to the museum as well as to the exhibition.
Book your tickets online now by using the Booking box to the right –>
The Accademia Gallery is normally closed on Mondays but will have an exceptional opening this Monday, June 2 on the Day of the Republic.
Opening hours will be 8:15am to 6:50pm.
Enjoy the holiday!
Extraordinary maintenance on the floor of the Hall of Prisoners has to occur next week, from Monday February 24 through March 3.
This means that during this period, the first two of Michelangelo’s Prisoners, the Young Slave and the Awakening Slave, will unfortunately not be visible. All other areas of the Accademia will be open and accessible to visitors.