Florence most famous statue stands here, in the Accademia or “Michelangelo Museum” : it is the David.

The Gallery lies on a site once occupied by two convents. The core of the collection was established in 1784 when Peter Leopold donated a group of ancient paintings to the Academy of Fine Arts so they might serve as practice models for students.

Various works from Florentine churches and convents were subsequently added. In 1873 Michelangelo’s David was moved to the Accademia from Piazza Signoria (where it was replaced with a copy), and in the 20th century other works by the master also arrived: the four Prisoners, Saint Matthew, and the Palestrina Pietà.

The rooms devoted to Florentine painting offer an overview of art produced in the period from Giotto to Masaccio. The gallery also houses a series of Russian icons from the private collection of the Grand Dukes of the House of Lorraine and plaster models of works by 19th-century Tuscan sculptors.

In the same building there is the Museum of Musical Instruments, comprising about fifty items collected by the grand dukes between the second half of the 17th and the first half of the 19th century; these include a tenor viola, a Stradivari violin dating to 1716 and a cello made by Niccolò Amati in 1650.

Also on display in the museum is the oldest upright piano still existing.

On the occasion of the opening of the first floor the museum allows free entrance on Saturday 2nd April 2011 from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. (the Accademia Gallery will be open from 8.15 am to 6 pm, as usual, with last entrance allowed at 5.30 pm).