The Domenica Metropolitana of January 3 2016

Among these are the proposals on the exhibitions The prince of dreams. Joseph in the Medici tapestries of Pontormo and Bronzino and Jeff Koons. In Florence and the paths linked to the Christmas holidays, or Corte in festa and Squisita scoperta. The Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the Chocolate Road. The program also includes visits and activities at the Museo Stefano Bardini, the Santa Maria Novella complex, the Museo Novecento and the Murate complex.

The Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi also adheres to the day by proposing at 11.30a.m the appointment Let’s talk about art, a conversation on display (maximum 15 participants) on the occasion of the exhibition Divine Beauty between Van Gogh, Chagall and Fontana: the activity is free with a fee.

MUSEO OF PALAZZO VECCHIO

Visit to the Palazzo

target: for all, up to 10 years old
time: 10.30a.m, 12.00p.m, 15.30p.m
duration: 1h15’

Palazzo Vecchio is the heart of Florence, symbol of the history of the city. A story that begins in 1299, when it was born to host the rulers of medieval Florence, and that knows a golden age when the Medici family brings its residence there transforming it into a real Palace. The visit allows you to understand how architecture, minor arts, sculptures and paintings contribute to the creation of a unique rich and complex that has transformed, stratified and renewed over the centuries.

Secret paths

target: for all, up to 10 years old
time: 10.00a.m, 11.30a.m, 14.30p.m, 16.00p.m
duration: 1h15’

The proposal allows you to visit some particularly valuable environments: among them the staircase built by Gualtieri di Brienne and made in the thickness of the wall; the Studiolo of Francesco I de’ Medici, refined casket “of rare things and pretiose”and the Desk of his father Cosimo I (better known as Tesoretto); finally, the imposing truss structure that supports the coffered ceiling of the Salone dei Cinquecento.

The places of Inferno

target: for all, starting from 10 years old
time: 12.30p.m, 17.00p.m
duration: 1h15’

“Palazzo Vecchio looks like a giant chess tower. With its solid squared façade and crenellated walls, the building is located to guard the south-eastern corner of Piazza della Signoria”. This is what Dan Brown writes in his latest best-seller, Inferno, set in Florence and largely in Palazzo Vecchio. Following in the footsteps of Professor Robert Langdon, the audience can learn about the story by reliving the settings and scenes of the novel, from public rooms to the most secret environments.

The Medici Palace

target: all, from 10+
time: 10.00a.m
duration: 1h15’

The rooms of Palazzo Vecchio still tell in a clear way the transformations that occurred in the sixteenth century, when Cosimo I de’ Medici moved his residence in charge of the works first Giovanni Battista del Tasso and then Giorgio Vasari. Alongside the government functions, the palace also assumed the role of Ducal Palace, hosting not only the ducal family but the whole court. The route allows you to visit the main rooms of the Palace with particular attention not only to the splendor and beauty of the Medici age but also to the aspects of daily life, recalling the customs, the events and curiosities that animated both public rooms and private rooms.

Visit to the exhibition Il principe dei sogni

target: for all, from 10+
time: 10.00a.m, 11.00a.m, 12.00a.m
duration: 50’

For a few months the Sala dei Dugento showed itself to the public in its dazzling beauty: the sober terracotta floor, the ceiling carved by Giuliano da Maiano and above all the wonderful cycle of Medici tapestries on the walls. After a thirty-year restoration, in fact, are exposed to the public the twenty cloths with the stories of Joseph the Jew, woven by the will of Cosimo I de’ Medici Flemish tapestries Rost and Karcher drawings by Bronzino, Pontormo and Salviati. The visits will allow to read the narrative traits and to decipher the political message that was underlying it, as well as appreciate its unparalleled technical and executive mastery.

Visit to the exhibition Jeff Koons. In Florence

target: for all, up to 10 years
time: 2.30p.m, 3.30p.m, 4.30p.m
duration: 50’

On the Arengario of Palazzo Vecchio stand some of the protagonists of art history, although largely replaced by copies: first of all the young David Michelangelo, followed by the hieratic Marzocco Donatello and the groups of Judith and Holofernes (also by Donatello) and Ercole and Caco di Baccio Bandinelli. The work on display by Jeff Koons will be an opportunity to start a confrontation between ancient and present, which in dialogue with the public will allow to regain the codes of interpretation of both past and contemporary art.

Guided by Giorgio Vasari

target: for all, up to 10 years
time: 11.00a.m
duration: 1h15’

In 1555 Giorgio Vasari, painter, architect and writer from Arezzo – author of The lives of the most excellent painters, sculptors and architects – became the site manager of Palazzo Vecchio and did an immense work to transform the building into a sumptuous Renaissance palace. In his dialogue with the public, Giorgio Vasari illustrates the lines of cultural policy of Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici, the absolute patron of the interventions, and the expertise of the Medici factory in creating, in record time, the new ducal residence.

Exquisite discovery. The Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the Chocolate Road

target: for families with kids aged 8 to 12 years
time: 12.00p.m, 4.30p.m
duraion: 1h15’

Cocoa arrives in Florence in the early seventeenth century, offered as a gift to Ferdinando de’ Medici by the traveller Francesco d’Antonio Carletti returning from a long journey around the world, and immediately arouses curiosity and interest, Nel dialogo fra corte medicea e Nuovo Mondo, the activity follows the history and tastes of chocolate from the ancient Aztec preparation to chocolate in hot and sweet cup of the eighteenth century, to reach the overflowing streets of chocolate in the contemporary world.

Festive court

target: for families with kids aged 6 to 10 years
time: 11.30a.m, 3.00p.m
duration: 1h15’

At the Palace there is an air of celebration: the ducal family prepares for the celebrations of the Ceppo, wherever music rehearsals are intended, decorations and furnishings are arranged, lights, vestments and decorations that give the Palace an extraordinary and shining dress. The path through the rooms allows you to relive a festive atmosphere, full of imagination and waiting, while the look on the preparations – the princely table, the opulent apparatus, the study of dances, the new clothes – involves young and old in rehearsals and work “behind the scenes” for the festivities.

Small stories of colors. Red

target: for families with children from 4 to 7 years
time: 10.30a.m
duration: 1h

Red is the color par excellence: it is the color of vitality, richness, power and pleasure. Thanks to a spectacular interactive installation, children will be able to familiarize themselves with the tones and meanings of Red and will be able to know some of the raw materials from which it can be born, such as cochineal and madder. In the second part of the activity a thematic itinerary will be started in some rooms of the Palace where the Reds – in their variants – flock in large numbers.

SANTA MARIA NOVELLA COMPLEX

Visit to Santa Maria Novella

target: all, starting with 10 years
time: 2.00p.m
duration: 1h15’

The visits accompany the public to the understanding of an extraordinary document of the history of the Dominican order but also of a fundamental chapter of the city of Florence. In this sense, particular attention will be paid to the history of the Order, whose theological characteristics are subject to all the architectural and artistic events of the convent, but also to the active participation of the citizens, that has always supported the life of the complex thanks to legacies, commissions and patronages, involving the major artists of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: including Giotto, Masaccio, Filippo Brunelleschi, Paolo Uccello, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Filippino Lippi.

Daily Life in Santa Maria Novella

target: for families with kids aged from 6 to 10 years
time: 3.30p.m
duration: 1h15’

The complex of Santa Maria Novella offers the opportunity to imagine and reconstruct the life, rules, hours and duties of the Dominican friars of the thirteenth century while appreciating the wealth of masterpieces that the convent contains. It will then be possible to relive on your own skin the passage of time in the convent – the prayer in the large church, translated into visual form in the great works of Giotto, Masaccio, Brunelleschi or Ghirlandaio; the common meal in the refectory; the meeting in the hall of the Chapter; study in the library, silence in the cloister; care and assistance in the infirmary; rest in the dormitories – coming to appreciate the historical and artistic significance of the complex.

MUSEO DEL BIGALLO (San Giovanni Square, 1)

In the ancient building in Piazza San Giovanni, which was the seat of the Confraternities of Misericordia and Bigallo, there are precious works of art of religious subjects, including the famous Madonna della Misericordia (school of Bernardo Daddi, 1342)with the oldest view.

Please note that all guided tours and activities are free for citizens resident in the metropolitan city of Florence and booking is mandatory. At the time of booking it is possible to reserve only one appointment during the day for a maximum of 5 people.