One of the symbols of the city of Firenze and the David, that big muscular man that you can see in so many performances around the city. It has now become so famous that on the stalls you can buy umbrellas, handbags and T-shirts with the face of this biblical hero imprinted. But what is the original statue? And what does it mean for the Florentine capital?
The story begins in 1501, when the Opera del Duomo commissioned michelangelo to create a statue of David and Goliath, fulfilling a single obligation: to use a large marble mass, previously sketched by an artist who had failed in the same undertaking. In those years, however, the Medici had been expelled from Florence and for the government of the Republic, the figure of the adolescent who defeated a giant had a new value: virtù and the courage of the Florentines to win their freedom. So he took charge of the creation of the statue and the commission passed from the religious to the political sphere. A real challenge for the young Michelangelo, who after numerous sketches and models, finished his grandiose work 3 years later. It was decided to place it at the entrance of the Palazzo della Signoria, the statue was so successful and it remained here until 1873.
In reality, even today, anyone who goes to Piazza della Signoria and enters Palazzo Vecchio, he can observe on his left a gigantic David, which is nothing more than a copy of the original one. If you did not know the story, you would not even notice: the statue has always been there and every self-respecting photo of the square, you could see it at the guard of the palace door. However, it gives the idea of the grandeur and strength that Michelangelo wanted to let out of the marble and that you can still admire in the Galleria dell'Accademia.
This museum has become famous thanks to this work and to Prisons, men who are born from marble in a sketchy and inconclusive way by the hand of Michelangelo himself, who wanted to represent human incompleteness. It is precisely here that in a white niche, illuminated by the light of the sun, the real David stands. Finding it is easy, because it is visible as soon as you enter the museum and then gathers a crowd of people who sit, lie down, lean on the surrounding walls, to be able to portray, copy, grasp its expression on drawing pads. It seems to be in a museum from a hundred years ago, when there were no smartphones or cameras ready to capture the moment: only a pencil and a piece of paper could come to the aid of an art scholar.
It is absolutely one of the museums to see for anyone who wants to get to know Florence, because it preserves a nineteenth-century style setting, which is rarely found. The museum is open from the 8.15 18.50 and it is closed on Mondays. The full ticket costs 6.50€, but there are the possibility of price reductions and free tickets for young people and students. It also includes a visit to the Department of Musical Instruments.
Anyone who wants to finish the path of the Florentine David has to work a little to climb on Piazzale Michelangelo. Here, where the artist's best works have been reproduced in bronze, he could not be missing, in the center of the square. Here he is observing the city from above with that typically Florentine elegance and detachment.
