Opera del Duomo Museum of Florence

The Opera del Duomo Museum is a true institution in Florence: its collection of works of art goes from the end of the 1200s to the 1800s and is one of the most important in Europe. This is definitely one of my favorite museums in Florence, because of the huge amount of masterpieces from the Middle Ages and Renaissance. If you are an art lover, you really should miss it.

After 3 years of restoration on 29 October 2015, it finally re-opened its doors, bigger, more stunning than ever and completely renovated. The new exhibition, designed by the Florentine architect Adolfo Natalini, expands the museum in the spaces of the former Intrepidi Theater, for a total of 750 works of art on a route divided into 25 rooms. Professor Natalini was also one of my professors at the University of Florence!

Opera del Duomo Museum in Florence: what to see

The Opera del Duomo Museum gathers statues, paintings, sacred furnishings, architectural fragments that have alternated over the centuries within the Cathedral and the Baptistery of Florence. Some pieces, like the choir of the Duomo by Baccio Bandinelli, were removed because the taste had changed and it was preferred to simplify the internal architecture. Others were removed from the original site to restore them and protect them from damage, such as the wooden Maddalena by Donatello. It used to be inside the Baptistery, but it was severely damaged by the 1966 flood.

Sala del Paradiso – Hall of Paradise

The great hall that you meet as soon as you enter is the most beautiful and spectacular of the whole museum: it’s the one in which architect Natalini reconstructed the ancient façade of the Florence Cathedral. The first façade was designed by Arnolfo di Cambio at the beginning of the ‘300 and demolished by Francesco I at the end of the 16th century. The original statues have been preserved and placed on a faux façade. Some of the greatest Florentine artists of the Middle Ages and Renaissance sculpted those statues, such as Arnolfo di Cambio, Donatello, and Nanni di Banco.

Facing the reconstructed façade, just as if we were in Piazza San Giovanni, there are the three doors of the Baptistery (at the Baptistery there are replicas today.) The first one was made by Andrea Pisano in the 1300s, and the other two ones were built in the 1400s by Lorenzo Ghiberti. The first to be built by Ghiberti starting in 1403 was the north gate, that of the famous competition with Brunelleschi. The other, begun in 1425, is the famous Gates of Paradise, Porta del Paradiso, the Renaissance masterpiece of the Florentine sculptor.

What not to miss at the Opera del Duomo Museum

The upper gallery is displaying to the reliefs and sculptures of Giotto’s bell tower. Here you can see the panels that Andrea Pisano and Luca della Robbia carved, and the statues that once were on the upper level: the most famous are the two prophets by Donatello, better known as the Zuccone and the Popolano. Today on the bell tower there are replicas, so the building still look the same, while the original statues are in a safer place. Talking about that, you might be interested in my blog post about the climb to Giotto’s bell tower.

But the collection is much wider than that, there are so many other works that you really should see there. A quick list of the unmissable masterpieces:

• The Gates of Paradise by Lorenzo Ghiberti, the most beautiful of the three bronze doors of the Baptistery.
• The Maddalena by Donatello, the most exciting and famous wooden sculpture of this artist.
• And then the two choirs, one by Donatello and the other by Luca della Robbia
• The Pietà Bandini by Michelangelo, sculpted by the artist for his own grave.
• The sculptures of the bell tower, especially the two statues by Donatello, Zuccone and Popolano.
• The magnificent silver altar of Saint John, to which Verrocchio, Ghiberti, Pollaiolo and Michelozzo worked. That’s one of my favorite pieces of the museum!
• The Parato di San Giovanni, a sacred vestment with precious embroideries designed by Pollaiolo.

In the 25 rooms there are many other important works of art with fascinating stories to tell. Visiting the Opera del Duomo Museum means taking a journey through time and art through 700 years of history of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. And if we’ll visit it together, I will reveal all its secrets to you!

Tickets for the Opera del Duomo Museum in Florence

The Opera del duomo Museum is part of the bigger complex of the Duomo. The complex is made of the Cathedral, the Dome, the Baptistery, Giotto’s Bell Tower, Santa Reparata’s crypt and the Museum itself. Each one of those things has a separate entrance and there are three types of tickets:

• Ghiberti Pass – including the crypt, the Museum and the Baptistery.
• Brunelleschi Pass – including the crypt, the Museum the Baptistery, Giotto’s Bell Tower and the climb to the Dome.
• Giotto Pass – including the crypt, the Museum, the Baptistery and Giotto’s Bell Tower

As you can see all of them are including the Museum. So if you aren’t interested in one of the climbs (of the bell and the Dome), you can just buy the Ghiberti Pass, which is the cheapest one. You can book them on the official website.

Remember that before entering any of those places, you must leave backpacks and any other large item at the luggage store next to the museum’s entrance. You can learn more about that (and much more!) in my full guide for visiting the Duomo of Florence.

Opening hours and days

The museum is located in Piazza del Duomo 9, in the historic headquarters of the Opera del Duomo, the institution founded by the Florentine Republic for over 700 years dealing with the construction, maintenance and restoration of the Cathedral and Baptistery.

The museum is open every day, except for the first Tuesday of each month. Opening hours are going from 8.30 am to 6.30 pm.

Private tour of the Opera del Duomo Museum

Do you want to visit the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo on a private tour together with a tour guide?

• Duration: 2 hours
• Meeting Point: in front of the museum entrance
• Included: a licensed local tour guide
• Not included: museum tickets

Fill the form for having more info, prices and for booking your tour. I will be more than happy to take you in one of my favorite museums in Florence!