Bardini Museum

The Bardini Museum is not one of the most popular tourist attractions, so you can enjoy all its splendor almost completely alone. Stefano Bardini was a famous restorer and antiques dealer of the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, he sought out ancient rarities, restored and resold them to private collectors, while simultaneously building his own collection. Before his death, he handed it over to the city authorities along with the building.

History of the Bardini Museum

Stefano Bardini was considered one of the most successful antiques dealers at the end of the 19th century (he was even given the nickname Prince of Antiques). The man managed to literally buy ancient objects of art for next to nothing and sell them for fabulous money not only in his homeland, but also abroad. At the same time, not only private individuals, but also famous European museums used the services of the antiquarian. Bardini kept some of the finds for himself, forming his own collection. It was not dedicated to any particular creator or direction of creativity; the exhibition included a wide variety of objects: icons, keys, figurines, ceramics, and household items.

To house his collection of antiquities, Bardini acquired a plot of land with the remains of a destroyed 13th-century church. A lucky collector was able to restore the building, using ancient stones, porticoes and columns to restore the walls, staircases and chimneys. After the death of the merchant, his property became the property of the city. The municipality refurbished the premises, changing the purpose of the halls and the location of the exhibits. At the very end of the twentieth century, the Bardini Museum was closed for restoration and reopened only 10 years later.

Brief description

Today the collection of the Bardini Museum is represented by a huge number of specimens; there are more than 3.5 thousand works of art here. The palace is not striking in its enormous size, so you can get around it without spending a lot of time. And the absence of tourists allows you to see all the exhibits clearly and in order.

The Bardini Museum contains sculptures, paintings, furniture, musical instruments, armor, coins, and medals. What makes the museum unusual is the blue walls, which is why the mansion was often called “Blue Bardini” (at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, this rich segment of the color palette was quite popular for decorating large halls and exhibition complexes). When the museum moved to the city, the color of the walls was changed to yellow, considering the blue tones to be too gloomy. The original color was returned only after restoration in the 2000s.

Museum Features

Several rooms in the Bardini Museum are dedicated to the history of Florence. Here are originals and copies of famous sculptures that have decorated the streets of the city for several centuries. On the ground floor there is an armory room, a huge medieval crucifix made of wood, an unusual collection of wedding dresses and antique chests. Luxurious carpets hang along the staircase walls, and one of them is truly enormous in size. The second and third floors were occupied by paintings and a collection of bronze objects. The top floor is dedicated to a collection of paintings belonging to Arnoldo Corsi. The exhibition presents works by different artists belonging to different schools and eras. It perfectly captures the spirit of collecting at the end of the 19th century. The former monastery garden was converted into a lapidarium, which later received the name of the Hall of Mercy.