Valentine's Day

The courtyard of the Bargello  Museum

How really fortunate I am to live in Florence, Italy, where every street and every square takes you through a page of an art history text.  This morning, with a group of friends, I visited the Bargello Museum which houses primarily sculpture . . . and what sculpture!! From medieval masterpieces to works by Donatello, Michelangelo, Ghiberti and Brunelleschi, and Della Robbia just to mention a few.

We are having a mild winter and today, I'm sure, as a St.Valentine Day gift, the sun is shining and the temps were very mild considering that we are in the month of February. This was a valentine from me . . to me!! (and to you!).

Amazing staircase in the courtyard

 Unfortunately, no photographs  can be taken inside the museum, only in the courtyard.

The Bargello, also known as the Bargello Palace, Museo Nazionale del Bargello, or Palazzo del Popolo (Palace of the People) is a former barracks and prison, now an art museum.

The palace was built to house first the Capitano del Popolo and later, in 1261, the 'podestà', the highest magistrate of the Florence City Council. This Palazzo del Podestà, as it was originally called, is the oldest public building in Florence.
 

note the coat of arms on the wall

 It was also employed as a prison; executions took place in the Bargello's yard where my pictures were taken until they were abolished by Grand Duke Peter Leopold in 1786, but it remained the headquarters of the Florentine police.

Fountain decoration in marble

This museum  is a MUST during your visit in Florence.

Della Robbia glazed terracotta rosone

Various coat of arms on the walls of the courtyard