Hard to believe, but this Sunday, visitors to the city’s museums will not only be able to visit the museums with free entrance but also be able to meet up with the Electress of the Palatinate “in flesh and bone”. These initiatives are part of the celebrations on the 281st anniversary of Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici‘s death, the last of the Medici that bequeathed the treasures of the family to the Tuscan State in 1737.
Free Museums
Palazzo Vecchio – from 9am to 7pm (Torre di Arnolfo only until 5pm)
Santa Maria Novella Complex – from 1pm to 5.30pm
Museo Stefano Bardini – from 11am to 5pm
Museo Novecento – from 11am to 8pm
Fondazione Salvatore Romano – from 1pm to 5pm
Cappella Brancacci – visits on the restoration levels, only with prebookings
Palazzo Medici Riccardi – from 9am to 7pm
Museo del Ciclismo Gino Bartali (Ponte a Ema) – from 10am to 4pm
Living History: Meet the Electress
Always on Sunday, in the morning and in the afternoon, you will be able to “meet” the Electress of the Palatinate at the Museum of Palazzo Vecchio, thanks to the Mus.e. association and the museus. During the event, participants will be able to interact and ask questions to Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici, played by Giaele Monaci. Introduction to the historical setting and character will be conducted by Andrea Verga.
The event will take place throughout the day at: 10am, 11.30am, 3.15pm and 4.45pm.
Participation is free (as is admission to the museum) but it requires that you book ahead either by email at info@musefirenze.it or by phone at 055-2768224.
Memorial Ceremony and a chance to see the Family Pact
On Sunday, starting at 10.20am, the Corteo Storico Fiorentino, the historical costume society, will parade from the Palagio di Parte Guelfa to the Medici Chapels. Here, officials from the city will place flowers on Anna Maria Luisa’s tomb.
At noon, the president of the region of Tuscany, Eugenio Giani as well as the Vice-Mayor Alessia Bettini and director of the new Museum of the Medici, Samuele Lastrucci, will inaugurate the new exhibit “The Family Pact, the Inheritance of the Last of the Medici” at the Rotonda Brunelleschi. This will be your chance to see the original document signed between Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici and the Francis of the Lorraines, who took over the Granduchy of Tuscany upon her brother Gian Gastone’s death. The “Family Pact” ensured that all the Medicean art and treasures collected over nearly three centuries of political ascendancy remained in Florence.
If you’re interested to learn even more about Anna Maria, at the Cinema La Compagnia this Saturday, February 17 starting at 7pm you can watch the documentary-series “The Last of the Medici“. It is made up of 14 episodes created by Fondazione Sistema Toscana to document the last generation of the Medici and their impact on the history and present day Tuscany and Florence.
