ANGHIARI

Centro di Documentazione della Battaglia di Anghiari
The Battle of Anghiari Documentation Centre is dedicated to had a battle that a great influence on local history. The battle is worldwide renowned for the now lost fresco that Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned to paint for the Palazzo della Signoria (or Palazzo Vecchio), in Florence. The museum displays a model of the battle field, pre-Leonardesque caissons with scenes of the battle, some copies of Leonardo`s drawings and a reconstruction of the lost fresco.

Museo della Confraternita di Misericordia
The Museum of the Confraternity of Mercy exposes a series of litters and vestments used by the Brethren of Mercy in the 19th century, ancient manuscripts of earlier confraternities and precious relics. The museum is situated in a beautiful medieval church decorated with 15th-century frescoes.

Museo Statale di Palazzo Taglieschi
The Palazzo Taglieschi State Museum displays works of art coming from the churches and historic buildings in Valtiberina and everyday items representing the local tradition. The palace that houses the museum belonged to the Taglieschi family of Anghiari and was built between 1462 and 1490 by Matteo Cane, a captain of fortune. The result of the transformation of pre-existing tower-houses, the palace is an excellent example of 15th-century residential architecture in Valtiberina.


AREZZO

Ivan Bruschi House and Museum
The museum exhibits a collection of antiques that belonged to Ivan Bruschi, the inventor of the famous antiques fair of Arezzo. The museum is located in Ivan Bruschi`s house, in the Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo. The collection covers a wide span of time, from prehistory to the 20th century, and includes items coming extra-European countries.

Chiesa di San Francesco
The church of San Francesco is renowned all over the world for being the building that houses the "Leggenda della Vera Croce" (Legend of the True Cross), the cycle of frescoes that decorates the main chapel.

Museo Archeologico Nazionale "Gaio Clinio Mecenate"
The National Archaeological Museum "Gaio Clinio Mecenate" is housed in the former monastery of San Bernardo, which was built on the ruins of a 2nd-century Roman amphitheatre. It is organized into thematic sections, dedicated to palaeontology, prehistory and numismatics, and includes collections bequeathed to the museum by Arezzo collectors.

Museo Aziendale della Gori & Zucchi
Gori & Zucchi Company Museum is the first museum in Arezzo dedicated to gold and goldsmithery and was open in 1998. The museum displays old machinery, medals, designs and gold items created by several important Italian artists.

Museo Civico d`Arte Moderna e Contemporanea
The Civic Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art houses a wide and interesting collection of paintings and works of graphic art by Italian artists who were active especially between the two world wars and in the second half of the 20th century. The museum also organizes many temporary exhibitions.

Museo di Arte Medievale e Moderna
The State Museum of Medieval and Modern Art is housed in Palazzo Bruni-Ciocchi (also known as Palazzo della Dogana), one of the most beautiful Renaissance buildings in Arezzo. On the ground floor are some important examples of medieval Arezzo paintings, masterpieces by famous Italian Renaissance artists, such as Signorelli and Vasari, a collection of decorated Renaissance majolica and a collection of weapons. On the first floor are paintings from the 16th to 19th centuries.

Museo Diocesano
The Diocesan Museum housed in the rectory of the Duomo of Arezzo exposes sacred vestments, artefacts in gold and coral and paintings from the cathedral itself and the churches of the diocese. Particularly interesting are some wooden crucifixes dating from the 13th century, some detached frescoes by Spinello Aretino, a 14th-century painting on wood by Andrea di Nerio and some works by Giorgio Vasari and Bartolomeo della Gatta.

Museo e Casa Vasari
The building, which Vasari bought and restructured between 1542 and 1548, is one of the few examples of a Renaissance artist`s home. The apartment is on the piano nobile and is decorated with allegorical and celebrative frescoes by Vasari and his pupils. In the museum are also some paintings coming from the storerooms of Florence museums, which document the work of the members of Vasari school and the environment in which the artist worked.


BIBBIENA

Museo Archeologico del Casentino
The Archaeological Museum of Casentino documents the history of Casentino from the Palaeolithic to the Etruscan and Roman times. The first section houses fossils of the fauna that once lived on the shores of the ancient, no longer existent, lake of Villafranca. The second one is dedicated to the Etruscan settlement in the valley, from the first hut villages to the places of worship: here are exhibited the remains of the temple of Socana and some votive offerings coming from the so-called Valley of Idols. The reproduction of a Roman villa illustrates life in Casentino in Roman times.


CAPOLONA

Museo dell`Acqua
The museum devoted to water is part of Casentino ecomuseum system and illustrates the importance of this element in everyday life, from cooking to its use as a power source for mills and fulling mills and in ironworks. A section of the museum is dedicated to the hydrography of the region, centred around the Arno River and its tributaries.


CAPRESE MICHELANGELO

Museo "Michelangelo"
Officially inaugurated in 1964, on the occasion of the four hundredth anniversary of Michelangelo`s death, the museum was actually created in 1875 to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of the artist`s birth. The museum is housed in three different buildings (Michelangelo`s birthplace, Palazzo Clusini and the Rocca) and outside, among the remains of the ancient medieval castle.


CASTEL FOCOGNANO

Centro di Documentazione della Cultura Rurale del Casentino
The Casentino Rural Culture Documentation Centre, which exposes everyday objects that document the traditions and the beliefs in the Casentino area, was created in 1996 and is housed in an ancient watchtower dating back to the 11th century.


CASTEL SAN NICCOLÒ

Museo del Carbonaio
Like the Water Museum, the Charcoal Burner`s Museum, which was created to document the importance of coal to local life, is part of the Casentino ecomuseum system. It features a "house of flavours", where visitors can taste local products, and a "memory bank" of local popular traditions. A hut and a coal pile have been reproduced in a green area in proximity to the museum, whereas other structures relating to the work of coalmen are to be visited in the town and its surroundings.

Museo della Civiltà Castellana
The Museum of Castle Civilisation is located in a deconsecrated church beneath the castle of San Niccolò and is devoted to the construction of castle-towns. A video and some explanatory panels illustrate fortification methods and the life in a castle-town, with reference to the castle that houses the museum and to the many examples of this particular kind of building that in the Middle Ages was so popular in the Casentino area.


CASTELFRANCO DI SOPRA

Ex Abbazia di Soffena
The 11th-century former abbey of Soffena had been remodelled various times in the course of the centuries before being completely renovated in the 1960s. The renovation process revealed a series of important frescoes.


CASTIGLION FIORENTINO

Esposizione Archeologica
The Archaeological Exposition displays a series of finds that document Castiglion Fiorentino`s past as an Etruscan settlement. Particularly interesting is a section of the roof of a temple found in proximity to the ancient castle, which has been partially reconstructed.

Pinacoteca Comunale
The Town Picture Gallery was established in 1911 and since 1991 has been housed in the monumental complex of the ancient keep. The collection includes some examples of medieval and Renaissance goldsmithery, two painted crosses dating to the 13th century and some paintings by Taddeo Gaddi and Bartolomeo della Gatta.


CAVRIGLIA

Museo delle Miniere
The Mine Museum, which displays mining tools and various kind of minerals, documents the history of the local mining industry. The museum includes a library, a collection of photographs and an archive.

Museo di Arte Sacra della Pieve di San Giovanni Battista
The Museum of Sacred Art is housed in the parish church of San Giovanni Battista in Cavriglia. On display are a series of works of sacred art from the 12th to the 19th centuries, including glazed terracotta sculptures, paintings and liturgical objects.


CHITIGNANO

Museo della Polvere da Sparo e del Contrabbando
The Museum of Gunpowder and Smuggling is devoted to a thriving activity in Chitignano in the 19th century: the production of and trade in gunpowder. Together with the activity of authorized powder mills, the museum documents also the one of the so-called "pilli" (powder mills) scattered in the surrounding woods, whose illegal production fuelled the illicit trade of gunpowder. The so-called Polveriera dell`Inferno (Powder Mill of Hell) is an outdoor itinerary that leads to one of largest "pilli" in the area.


CHIUSI DELLA VERNA

Museo del Santuario della Verna
Housed in the rooms of the 15th-century sanctuary, the Museum of the Sanctuary of La Verna displays paintings, liturgical books and items, including a polychrome wooden crucifix and a ceramic bust of Christ attributed to Andrea della Robbia.


CORTONA

Antiquarium di Farneta
The Antiquarium is housed in the ancient abbey of Farneta, which was founded in the 9th-10th centuries; the original pre-Romanesque crypt is still to be admired. The exhibition includes artistic artefacts coming from the abbey, archaeological and paleontological finds from the surroundings and some documents concerning rural life in the area.

Fortezza del Girifalco
Cosimo I de` Medici had the fortress of Girifalco built around 1550 as part of a plan to strengthen the state fortifications. Its nucleus was built in the 13th century on the ruins of some Etruscan structures. Actually, the fortress was never used for military purposes because, after the end of the war with Siena (1556), the Grand Duchy of Tuscany experienced a long period of peace.

Museo dell`Accademia Etrusca
The Etruscan Academy Museum was established in 1727 and houses the collections bequeathed by leading members of the Etruscan Academy and other items made available by other state-owned institutions. Particularly interesting are the Etruscan, Egyptian and medieval sections. On display is also an important collection of paintings from 14th century to the present days.

Museo Diocesano del Capitolo
The museum is housed in the ancient seat of the Brethren of Jesus and exhibits a wide collection of religious works of art coming from the diocese of Cortona, including an "Annunciation" by Beato Angelico and some paintings by Luca Signorelli and his workshop.


LORO CIUFFENNA

Museo Venturino Venturi
The museum is dedicated to Venturino Venturi, an artist born in Loro Ciuffenna in 1918. On display are about 100 works donated by the artist himself, most of which are sculptures. The nearby studio-home of the artist can be visited upon request.


LUCIGNANO

Museo Comunale
One of the most important works of art exposed in the museum is the so-called "Albero di Lucignano", a tree-shaped reliquary in gilt copper and silver with coral branches and illuminated pages framed in rock crystal disks; the reliquary was made between 1350 and 1476.


MONTE SAN SAVINO

Museo Comunale del Cassero
The museum is housed in several rooms of the ancient Rocca del Cassero and is dedicated to the local pottery and ceramics. On display are medieval and Renaissance objects that were found during the restoration of the stronghold and some majolica items coming from the fortress of Ciggiano.


MONTERCHI

Madonna del Parto
The museum houses the "Madonna del Parto", the famous fresco by Piero della Francesca, along with documents relative to its restoration. The other rooms of the museum are devoted to Piero della Francesca`s life and works.

Museo di Bilance e Pesi
The museum contains scales and weights coming from Velio Ortolani`s private collection. Ortolani was a collector of weighing instruments who lived in Monterchi.


MONTEVARCHI

Museo d`Arte Moderna Ernesto Galeffi
The Museum of Modern Art Ernesto Galeffi was established in 1996 by Ernesto Galeffi`s heirs, who then bequeathed the building and the whole collection to the town of Montevarchi and to the Accademia Valdarnese del Poggio. The museum comprises 10 paintings, 60 sculptures and 2,000 drawings.

Museo d`Arte Sacra della Collegiata di San Lorenzo
The Museum of Sacred Art of the Collegiate Church of San Lorenzo houses a collection of bas-reliefs, illuminated codes, frescoes, processional crosses, sacred vestments, chalices and reliquaries from the Middle Ages to the 17th century. Particularly interesting is a Renaissance tempietto with glazed terracotta by Andrea della Robbia.

Museo Paleontologico
Originally established in Figline Valdarno in 1809 and then moved to Montevarchi in 1821, the Paleontological Museum houses a collection of fossils of plants and animals that lived in Upper Valdarno in the Pliocene and Pleistocene periods.


ORTIGNANO RAGGIOLO

Museo della Castagna
The museum is devoted to what in the past was a fundamental element in the diet of the local population: chestnut. Visitors can discover the various stages in the transformation process of this basic aliment. The visit ends with a workshop.


POPPI

Castello dei conti Guidi
Many rooms of the castle of the Guidi counts are used to host temporary exhibitions, whereas the chapel is permanently open to the public. The castle houses also a small museum dedicated to the famous battle of Campaldino, which was fought in 1289.

Museo Forestale "Carlo Siemoni"
The museum is dedicated to Karl Siemons, the administrator of the Casentino forests at the time of Grand Duke Leopold II of Lorraine, and includes a collection of native and non-native trees present in Italian forests. The museum contains also collections of stuffed animals and rocks.


SAN GIOVANNI VALDARNO

Casa Masaccio - Galleria Comunale d`Arte Contemporanea
The building is mostly used for hosting contemporary art exhibitions, but it also houses a collection of works acquired during the editions of the "Premio Masaccio" held between 1963 and 1968 and in the 1980s.

Museo della Basilica di Santa Maria delle Grazie
This museum of sacred art houses also a collection of 15th-century Florentine paintings and a collection of 17th-century works of art.


SANSEPOLCRO

Aboca Museum
Situated in Palazzo Bourbon del Monte, the museum is devoted to medicinal plants: on displays are ancient herbariums, mortars, glassware and ceramics. Ancient apothecaries have been reconstructed in some of the rooms.

Museo "Bernardini-Fatti" della Vetrata Antica
The "Bernardini-Fatti" Museum of Stained Glass is located in the church of San Giovanni Battista and exposes stained glasses by artists who worked mainly between the late 19th and the early 20th centuries, including an interesting "Crucifixion" from the chapel of Glidestone.

Museo Civico
Situated in the beautiful Palazzo dei Conservatori, the museum houses a series of paintings from the 14th to the 18th centuries. Of particular interest are the works by Piero della Francesca, such as the "Polittico della Misericordia" (Polyptych of Misericordia) and two detached frescoes representing St. Julian and St. Louis of Toulouse.

Museo e Biblioteca della Resistenza
The museum holds a collection of items dating from the period 1920-1945, a collection of light weapons from World War II and a huge collection of items from the Renicci concentration camp. The library has over 2,500 books and a collection of documents relative to concentration camps.


SESTINO

Antiquarium Nazionale
Together with the reconstruction of an ornamental temple from the Augustan period, the museum houses a collection of Roman finds brought to light in the Sestino area and some tablets and stone materials from the imperial age (1st-4th centuries).


STIA

Museo d`Arte Contemporanea
Housed in the castle of Palagio, the ancient residence of the Guidi counts renovated in the early 20th century, the museum exhibits a collection of works by contemporary painters and sculptors, such as Piero Annigoni, Marino Marini, Giò Pomodoro and Ottone Rosai.

Museo del Bosco e della Montagna
The museum is part of Casentino ecomuseum system and documents the activities inked to the exploitation of Casentino mountains and forests for the production of domestic utensils and handicraft items.

Museo del Castello di Porciano
The museum occupies the lower floor of the 11th-century castle of Porciano. On display are a collection of domestic utensils and farming implements, an exhibition on the natives of North America, a collection of finds brought to light during the restoration of the castle and photographs documenting the restoration works.

Museo Ornitologico "Carlo Beni"
Created by Carlo Beni at the beginning of the 20th century, the collection includes more than 550 specimens representing almost 180 species of birds that live in the Casentino area.


SUBBIANO

Museo della Casa Contadina
The museum is part of Casentino ecomuseum system and is located in a recent building that replicates a typical Casentino rural house.


TALLA

Museo della Musica "Guido d`Arezzo"
Housed in the birthplace of Guido Monaco, the Benedictine monk who lived between 990 and 1050 and invented musical notation, the museum contains a collection of musical instruments and illuminated manuscripts.