Bargello

The story of Bargello

The Bargello, or Palazzo del Bargello, is Florence’s former public building and police headquarters, later a prison, and since 1865 the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, a national art museum housed in a medieval palace.

Construction began in 1255, and the building was first made to house the Capitano del Popolo and then, in 1261, the podestà, the highest magistrate of the Florence City Council. That makes it the oldest public building in Florence. Its austere crenellated form also served as a model for the Palazzo Vecchio. The name Bargello later came from the police chief who was housed here in 1574, after the Medici set aside the earlier office of the Podestà.

The building also witnessed violent public justice. In 1479 Bernardo Bandini Baroncelli, one of the movers of the Pazzi conspiracy against the Medici family, was hanged from it, an event witnessed and sketched by Leonardo da Vinci. Executions took place in its courtyard until they were abolished by Grand Duke Peter Leopold in 1786.

As a museum, the Bargello is especially important for Italian Renaissance sculpture and the decorative arts of Florence, with an unequalled collection of Florentine works. It also holds works from earlier and later periods. Among the highlights are the modelli for the 1401 competition for the second set of doors of the Florence Baptistery, the finalists’ designs by Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi, and major sculptures by Michelangelo and Donatello, including Donatello’s bronze and marble Davids and his Saint George.

The medieval building is relatively well preserved, and the Cappella della Maddalena contains extensive but damaged frescos by Giotto, including a full-length portrait of Dante. In 2023, the museum was the 12th most visited in Italy, with 610,203 visitors. It has Italian national heritage status, and when you visit, the Bargello’s combination of fortress-like architecture and sculpture collection is what makes it unforgettable.