Museo Galileo, the Florentine Jewish Ghetto & the Via dei Benci
The area immediately east of the Uffizi and Piazza della Signoria — the stretch from the Museo Galileo (Italy's national science museum) south along the Arno to the Sant'Ambrogio quarter — contains some of the most important but least-visited institutions in Florence: the Museo Galileo (with Galileo's original telescopes and instruments), the Florentine Synagogue and Jewish Museum, and the daily food market of Sant'Ambrogio.
- 1
Museo Galileo — Florence's Museum of Science & Instruments
The Museo Galileo (Piazza dei Giudici 1, the museum of the history of science and scientific instruments housed in the Palazzo Castellani on the south bank of the Arno immediately east of the Uffizi): the museum contains the most important collection of historical scientific instruments in Italy and one of the most significant in the world — the collection was assembled by the Medici dynasty from the 16th century onwards as part of their systematic collection of objects of natural curiosity and scientific apparatus; the highlights include: Galileo Galilei's original telescopes (the two surviving instruments with which Galileo made his discoveries of the moons of Jupiter, the phases of Venus, and the mountains of the Moon in 1609-1610 — the most important scientific observations of the 17th century); Galileo's middle finger (the finger removed from his hand at the time of his reburial in Santa Croce in 1737, displayed in a reliquary egg — one of the more macabre exhibits in any museum); astrolabes and armillary spheres from the 14th-17th centuries; early globes including one of the first globes to show America (1492, by Martin Behaim — made before Columbus returned to Europe); and instruments by the greatest instrument makers of early modern Europe.
- 2
Lungarno & the Arno Embankment Walk
The Lungarno (the embankment streets running on both sides of the Arno through the historic centre of Florence — the Lungarno degli Archibusieri and Lungarno Generale Diaz on the south (Oltrarno) bank, and the Lungarno degli Acciaiuoli and Lungarno Corsini on the north bank): the Arno embankment walk from the Uffizi to the Ponte Vecchio and beyond provides the most coherent view of the Arno as the central axis of the city — the broad, fast-moving river flanked by the 19th-century embankment walls (built following repeated disastrous floods, most recently in 1966 when the Arno rose 6.7 metres and caused catastrophic damage to the art and architecture of the city), the bridges (Ponte Vecchio, Ponte Santa Trinita — the most beautiful of all, designed by Bartolomeo Ammannati 1567-1569 and rebuilt after its destruction in 1944 from photographs and from stones recovered from the river bed), and the distant hills visible at either end of the river corridor.
- 3
Florentine Synagogue & the Jewish Museum
The Sinagoga di Firenze (the Synagogue of Florence, Via Luigi Carlo Farini 4, the principal synagogue of the Florentine Jewish community, built 1874-1882 in a Moorish-Byzantine-Renaissance style inspired by the synagogues of Cairo and Constantinople — the building's dome and ornate exterior make it one of the most distinctive architectural landmarks in Florence, visible from the hills above the city): the Jewish community of Florence has been present since at least the 14th century, when Jews played important roles in the financial life of the city as moneylenders (banking was restricted to Jews by Christian doctrine that forbade usury to Christians); the community was confined to a ghetto in the area between the present-day Piazza della Repubblica and the Via Roma from 1571 to 1848 (when the ghetto walls were demolished and Jews were granted full civil rights in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany); the Jewish Museum (Museo Ebraico) inside the synagogue presents the history of the Florentine Jewish community and the Museo Galileo.
- 4
Sant'Ambrogio Market & the Florentine Food Culture
The Mercato di Sant'Ambrogio (Via Lorenzo Ghiberti, the covered market hall in the Sant'Ambrogio quarter east of Santa Croce — the daily food market used primarily by local residents rather than tourists, offering a more authentic alternative to the Mercato Centrale near San Lorenzo): the Sant'Ambrogio market is the best remaining example of the neighborhood food market culture that characterized Florence before mass tourism transformed the food retail landscape of the historic centre; the market hall (built 1873) contains butchers, fishmongers, cheesemakers, vegetable stalls and prepared food vendors; around the exterior of the market building, a secondary market of clothing, household goods and inexpensive food stalls extends into the surrounding streets; the Piazza Ghiberti adjacent to the market has several traditional Florentine trattorie specializing in the offal-based dishes of Florentine cucina povera — lampredotto (the fourth stomach of the tripe — sliced, boiled in broth and served in a bread roll with salsa verde and hot chili peppers), trippa alla fiorentina (tripe cooked in tomato sauce with Parmesan) and bollito misto.
- 5
Casa Buonarroti — Michelangelo's House & Early Works
The Casa Buonarroti (Via Ghibellina 70, the house purchased by Michelangelo in 1508 as a Florentine investment property — he never actually lived there — and subsequently converted by his nephew Leonardo Buonarroti into a memorial museum in the early 17th century): the Casa Buonarroti houses the most important collection of Michelangelo's early work and personal effects, including the 'Madonna of the Stairs' (c.1490-1492, the earliest surviving marble relief by Michelangelo, carved when he was approximately 15-16 years old while living in the Medici household — a small, shallow-relief carving in the manner of Donatello showing the Madonna in profile against stairs in the background) and the 'Battle of the Centaurs' (c.1490-1492, a marble relief of competing male nudes that represents the earliest expression of Michelangelo's lifelong preoccupation with the expressive power of the male body in violent action); the museum also contains drawings, models and documents relating to the artist's life and commissions.
- 6
Arno Flood Memorial & the 1966 Disaster
The Arno Flood Memorial (the bronze flood marker on the south wall of the Palazzo Buondelmonti at the corner of Via de' Benci and Lungarno Generale Diaz, one of approximately 70 marble or bronze flood markers attached to buildings throughout the historic centre of Florence recording the levels reached by the Arno in successive historic floods — the highest markers in most streets record the catastrophic flood of 4 November 1966, when the Arno rose approximately 6.7 metres above normal level and flooded the entire historic centre to depths of up to 6 metres in the lowest areas): the 1966 flood (the worst flood in Florence since 1557) destroyed or severely damaged approximately 14,000 moveable works of art, damaged or destroyed 1.5 million books and manuscripts in the National Library, and caused structural damage to countless buildings; the recovery operation — in which thousands of young volunteers (the 'Mud Angels' — Angeli del Fango) came to Florence from across Italy and the world to assist with salvage operations — became one of the defining moments of 20th-century cultural conservation.