Tuscan Archaeological Service

FLORENCE NATIONAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM Directed by: Dr. A.M.Esposito

H    O    M    E

It first opened in 1881 inside the seventeeth century Palazzo della Crocetta (built by G.Parigi for the Arch Duchess Maria Maddalena of Austria), and was soon considerably enriched, thanks to the commitment of its first director, L. Adriano Milani, with masterpieces from the Medici collections and examples of Greek, Etruscan and Roman art.
Its splendid collection of large bronze sculptures includes the world famous "Chimaera", found at Arezzo in 1553, the well known "Arringatore", bronze statue of the Etruscan nobleman Aulo Metello, and some important Greek bronzes, like the little idol, found at Pesaro in 1530, a huge horse's head, used as a model for many equestrian statues in Renaissance times, the heads of Greek philosophers from the waters of Meloria and a torso dating from the early Classical period, which was also found in the sea near Leghorn.

The collection of painted Attic ceramics is equally rich and important especially because it includes an outstanding vase of world-wide fame: the great krater or "François Vase" (from the name of the person who discovered it), carried out by the skilful hands of Ergophimos the potter and decorated by Kleitiras the painter with his beautiful illustrations of some of the most famous sagas of Archaic Greece. However the visitor will find a great many masterpieces to admire as he walks through the recently restored exhibition rooms: the skyphos by the Painter of Kleophrades, the hydriae by the Painter of Meidias decorated with sumptuous scenes from the thiasos of Aphrodite.

The Museum also contains a rich collection of marble sculture, including the only two Archaic Greek Kuroi in Italy, known as the Milani "Apollo" and "Little Apollo", which were purchased for the Museum by L.A. Milani along with numerous other statues, most of them Roman copies of Greek originals by Polycleitus, Scopas and Praxiteles; the collection of Etruscan sculpture, much of it of funerary type, is equally important, and includes a large display of urns from the areas around Chiusi and Volterra, as well as sarcophagi in stone and marble, among them the famous sarcophagus of the "Amazons".

Embossed silver mirror - 4th century B.C.

The last part of the Museum is devoted to its vast and extremely valuable Egyptian collection (vases, sculpture, sarcophagi with mummies and papyri) which, in Italy, at least, is second only to the Egyptian Museum in Turin. The Topographical Section of the Museum, dedicated to the excavations and discoveries made in the main Etruscan centres from the nineteenth century to this day, represents one of its most important sections, which is also in continuous growth, thanks to the many important discoveries made in recent years in the area of central and northern Etruria.
Here, among many other exhibits, the visitor can admire valuable Oriental style tomb furnishings from Vetulonia, Populonia and Chiusi, together with the latest discoveries from Cortona, Volterra and Roselle.

The National Archeological Museum of Florence is an integral part of the Tuscan Archeological Service of Tuscany, which also hosts one of the most important archeological restoration centres in Italy (the SAT Restoration Centre), not only responsible for having saved the thousands of exhibits that were badly damaged in the 1966 flood in Florence, but also for the restoration of monuments that are famous throughout the world like, for example, the Bronzes from Riace, the Sarcophagus of the Husband and Wife in the Louvre, and the gilded bronze equestrian group from Cartoceto.

Museo Archeologico Nazionale
Via della Colonna 38
tel.: (0)55-2478641
Opening hours:
dal Monday-Saturday:9-14
Sunday and holydays:9-13
Guidet tours by Educational Dept via della Pergola 65