Accademia Gallery in Florence: everything you need to know to plan your visit in 2023

The Accademia Gallery is located in via Ricasoli 58/60, in historic center of Florence, and is easily accessible on foot or by public transport. The museum is also suitable for disabled guests. To visit the gallery you can calculate at least a couple of hours, dedicated to the main works.

Opening days and times are Tuesday to Sunday, 8:15 to 18:50, with last admission at 18:20. The ticket office closes at 18:20. The gallery is closed on Monday, 1 January and 25 December.

To reach the Accademia Gallery in Florence by public transport, you can choose between these options:

- By bus, get off at the Piazza San Marco stop, served by 16 lines (including lines 1, 10 and C1) and walk 550 meters.

- By tram, get off at Unità station, served by the T2 line.

- By train, from Santa Maria Novella station take bus 14 to Santissima Annunziata stop or tram T2 to Unità station

The Accademia Gallery in Florence was founded in 1784 by Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo di Lorena with the intention of creating a study space for the students of the Academy of Fine Arts, which at the time was housed in the ancient buildings of the hospital of San Matteo and the convent of San Niccolò di Cafaggio.

Over the years the gallery was enriched with works from convents suppressed by the Grand Duke and later by Napoleon. In 1873 Michelangelo’s David was transferred from Piazza della Signoria: it was placed in a specially built room, the Tribune.

It was opened to the public in 1892: in the following years other thematic sections were added, such as the Bartolini gipsoteca and the Museum of Ancient Musical Instruments opened in 2001, which collects about fifty artifacts from the private collections of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany, Medici and Lorena.

The Accademia Gallery, as we have already said, is famous above all for the collection of sculptures by Michelangelo, among which the most famous is undoubtedly the David. Other important works of the artist are the Prisons, four unfinished statues that symbolize the effort of the figures to escape from the marble and the the difficulty of the sculptor to free them from the raw material, as if there were an analogy with the man who frees himself from the body to become Spirit: a recurrent symbology in many unfinished works of the artist.

Then we find the original plaster model of the Rape of the Sabines by Giambologna, a sculpture that amazes for the refinement of the spiral composition: the marble group is preserved at Palazzo Vecchio.

The Madonna with Child, infant Saint John the Baptist and Angels by Botticelli is one of the most valuable works of the Florentine painter, from which emerges the influence of Flemish painting in the reproduction of details.

Among the highlights of the Museum of Ancient Musical Instruments you can admire violins, violas and cellos by Stradivari and Cristofori: particularly important  the only viola in the world built by Stradivari, perfectly preserved over time.

If you want to make the most of your time to admire the artistic heritage of Florence without wasting time in queues, our advice is to buy a combined pass that allows you to visit more attractions with an expert guide and take advantage of priority entrances.

We have chosen for you the Florence Art Pass, which gives you access to the Accademia Gallery, the Uffizi Gallery and the Florence Cathedral with just one ticket. A full immersion in Renaissance art, from the sculptures of Michelangelo to the most famous works of Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Raffaello, Giotto, Cimabue, Masaccio and many others, preserved in two of the most famous galleries in the world.

Then enter the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore to admire the marble choir of Bandinelli, the stained glass windows of Donatello, Ghiberti and Andrea del Castagno, the mysterious clock by Paolo Uccello, the frescoes by Vasari on the Dome of Brunelleschi: the largest masonry dome ever built, with its internal diameter of 45 meters and its overall height of 116 has just passed the 600 years of age, but continues to amaze visitors for the wonders it holds under its vaults.