ITALY 2022
ACCADEMIA GALLERY IN FLORENCE
A REAL JEWEL TO EXPLORE The Musical Instruments Museum of Florence, inside Accademia Gallery, is a real jewel to explore with your eyes, and especially with your ears. The collection shows the importance of the role music played in the Medici Court, celebrating the invention of the piano, which was created for the Medici by Bartolomeo Cristofori
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he museum was inaugurated in 2001 with entrance included in the Galleria dell’Accademia ticket. It displays about fifty musical instruments from private collections of grand dukes of Tuscany, the Medici, and Lorena, being a hidden gem for opera, theater, and classical music lovers. The instruments were collected from the late 17th century to the early 19th century. They were then given to the Cherubini Conservatory in Florence, which then loaned them to the Galleria dell’Accademia in 1996. A multimedia area in the Galleria dell’Accademia makes it possible to listen to the sonority of many of the instruments on display and watch a video that retraces the birth and the growth of theater in Florence. COURT MUSICIANS The Museum of Musical Instruments of Florence exhibits two largescale paintings by Anton Domenico Gabbiani in the musical instrument section. They portray the Grand Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici surrounded by his court musicians. The elegantly dressed young musicians proudly show off their violas, cellos, a lirone, or lira da gamba, and a cello with a precious silver tailpiece used to increase its sonority. You can recognise Pietro Salvetti, cappella master and chamber assistant, and Francesco Veracini, a composer among some of the best musicians of the era. The room dedicated to Bartolomeo Cristofori displays two XVII century still lifes that combine elegantly set tables and detailed depictions of musical instruments of the era. Ferdinando de’ Medici’s first passion from his earliest years was music.
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GRAN PRINCIPE FERDINANDO DE’ MEDICI, INITIATOR OF THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS COLLECTION
