The best museums Toscane

After five years of major renovation work, the Museum of the Opera del Duomo has reopened its doors. Inaugurated in 1986, the museum is housed in a building attached to the 13th-century cloister and preserves significant works from the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption and the Baptistery of Pisa. In particular, sculptures dating from the 11th and 16th centuries, and works by Giovanni Pisano, including a beautiful Madonna and Child and a magnificent polychrome Christ.

This exceptional site is a former Dominican convent, one of Florence's spiritual and intellectual lungs in the 15th century, open to the public since 1869. Consecrated in 1443, it has welcomed such outstanding personalities as Fra Angelico, Savonarola, Fra Bartolomeo... and was enlarged by Cosme de Médicis. Housed in the 15th century convent, the work of Michelozzo di Bartolomeo, Cosme le Vieux's favourite architect, the museum pays tribute to Beato Angelico (known as Fra Angelico) who, during his stay there, painted intimate and moving frescos on the walls of each of the 44 cells. Images that are now considered icons. Fra Angelico's wonderful Annunciation is visible there, as well as other works belonging to him from Florentine churches and religious institutions. See also the grandiose and touching Crucifixion in the Chapter Hall.

Among the rooms on the first floor, in addition to the cells painted by Fra Angelico, and the apartment of the prior who was inhabited by Savonarola and where he was arrested in 1498, the three-nave room of the library, considered to be Michelozzo's masterpiece, with the Medici palace, should be noted. It is of great architectural and historical interest, and contains no less than thirty thousand works.
Behind the cloister decorated with frescoes by Fra Angelico, a second cloister, dating from the 15th century and dedicated to Saint Dominic, houses five Dominicans who still perpetuate the monastic tradition today in the heart of the urban whirlwind.

The Museum of Statues is located in the castle of Piagnaro, which dominates the small medieval town of Pontremoli. It houses 25 original stelas and offers an explanation of the manufacture and use of these statues.

The (small) Museum of Minerals and Mining Art is located in the centre of Rio Marina, within the historic headquarters of the mine management, the Palazzo del Burò. It exposes the different minerals present on the island of Elba, in particular pyrite and magnetite. This collection is one of the most important on the island, with samples of exceptional beauty. The visit continues with the discovery of the geological history of the Elbe and its deposits, exploited from Etruscan times to 1981. In addition to a life-size gallery, the museum also presents original working tools found on the extraction sites, such as picks or carbide lamps - precious objects for miners who take us back in time, telling us about the lives of these men who, from generation to generation, have spent their lives in the dust, noise and humidity of the galleries. An interesting meeting to understand how iron has regulated the economic activity of the island of Elba for centuries.

From April to October, guided hikes to Rio Marina's iron mining sites are also organized by the museum. Ask at the reception desk about the days of departure. Also offered, and in high demand, is the mini-train tour of the open-pit mines. The visit, on reservation, lasts a good hour for an exciting tour through the geo--mineralogical heritage of the island of Elba.

Built in 1677, the church represents a strong sign of Napoleon's passage on the island of Elba. Since 1852, every May 5 is celebrated a mass in his honour. There is also the body of San Cristino, martyr and patron saint of the city of Portoferraio. The small adjacent museum preserves the flag that Napoleon gave to the Elbe on May 4, 1814, the bronze mask of Napoleon dying, given by Prince Anatolio Demidoff, and the bronze casting of his right hand.

The former Guzman powder magazine (fortification built during the Spanish occupation in 1692 and where Garibaldi acquired the ammunition necessary for the Expedition of the Thousand in 1860) houses the Orbetello Archaeological Museum. The exhibition, characterised by a didactic layout, preserves the archaeological remains of the region, as well as particularly precious discoveries from the Etruscan necropolises of Orbetello and Talamone. We can see beautiful ceramics, coins, Roman and Etruscan objects dating from the 7th and 6th centuries BC.

Since 1957, the Civic Museum has been housed in the Palazzo Neri-Orselli, one of the few examples of palaces in Montepulciano that have preserved its typical 14th century Sienese civil architecture. This palace houses a collection of more than 200 paintings by artists such as Margaritone d'Arezzo, Bicci di Lorenzo, Sodoma, Paris Bordone, as well as goldsmith's pieces and precious terracotta signed Andrea della Robbia. In its archaeological section, the Civic Museum also looks back to the Etruscan period of Valdichiana

After New York, Los Angeles, Dubai and Rome, the Selfie Museum has landed in Florence. Well, not really a museum. Let's say it's a space of over 1,000^m2 where immersive scenarios created by 400 different artists, light and mirror effects, kaleidoscopes, polka dots and coloured balls follow one another. The objective of making the visitor the protagonist of the exhibition has been achieved! Of course, you can have your own opinion about the selfie craze, but this is clearly the time to get out your phone! And to take full responsibility!