‘Domenica Metropolitana’ Returns in July: Free Museums, Tours & Activities

‘Domenica Metropolitana’ returns with free admission to city-run museums for residents in the Florence metropolitan area on Sunday, July 3. Special events and guided tours are also available; for access, reservations are required.

Venues featuring no cost entrance comprise the Palazzo Vecchio Museum (9 am – 7 pm) which allows visitors to experience the city’s history through its architecture and terraces, the Novecento Museum of 20th and 21st Century Art (11 am – 8 pm) which is offering many temporary exhibitions in addition to its permanent collection, the Gino Bartali Cycling Museum (10 am – 4 pm), the Stefano Bardini Museum plus the Salvatore Romano Antiquities Foundation (11 am – 5 pm), and Forte Belvedere (10 am – 8 pm) which is currently hosting two exhibitions, Play it Again and Fotografe!.

Fotografe!, a new double-venue photography show which is held both in Villa Bardini (no free entrance on July 3) and Forte Belvedere, is displaying the evolution of photography though the lens of female artists.

On Sunday, residents can also get a special ticket called “Giglio Pass,” which enables them to enter the Cathedral Museum, the Baptistery and the Santa Reparata for free, and which is valid for every first Sunday of the month. The Giglio Pass also provides free entry to the Museum of the Opera del Duomo, which features a collection of mainly medieval art originally created for Cathedral, as well as the exhibition The Three Pietà of Michelangelo. The pass can be purchased on July 3 directly at the cash desk of the Opera of Santa Maria del Fiore in Piazza Duomo 14 and Piazza San Giovanni 7.

Together with free museum entry, visits to some historical landmarks are offered. The San Niccolò Tower reopens to the visitors allowing them to reconstruct events and emblematic moments in the city’s history, along with a scenic view of the city (5 – 8 pm). A historical and artistic journey awaits guests to the Brancacci Chapel thanks to the Renaissance frescoes of Masccio, Masolino and Filippo Lippi (1 – 5 pm). Another guided tour can be booked to Santa Maria Novella, where particular attention given to the history of the Dominican order whose theology underlies all the architectural and artistic events of the monastery and church (1 – 5:30 pm).

A visit to the Medici Riccardi Palace starts from the main courtyard to retrace the stages of the Medici ascent and the construction and decorative phases of the building (9 am – 7 pm). The itinerary continues in the other rooms of the museum to end with the ornate Gallery of Mirrors. There is also an Oscar Ghiglia exhibition and a painting workshop for families. The retrospective  consists of still  lives, portraits, and figure paintings by the talented artist Oscar Ghiglia, who lived between 1876 and 1945. Each piece vibrates with energy and character of its own because of the artist’s fresh way of painting in oil.  The Arnolfo Tower, with a splendid view of the city, is another venue on the list (9 am – 5 pm).

The Florence metropolitan area comprises Bagno a Ripoli, Calenzano, Campi Bisenzio, Fiesole, Firenze, Impruneta, Lastra a Signa, Sandicci, Sesto Florentino and Signa.  (elif aytemiz)

For more info, call 055-2768224, contact info@musefirenze.it or visit www.musefirenze.it.