Casa Buonarroti: the museum house of Michelangelo

On February 9, 1858, Michelangelo Buonarroti’s house, located at number 70 of Via Ghibellina, became a museum.
Since he was young, Michelangelo had dreamed of creating a patrician house to leave as inheritance to his descendants, a dream that he never managed to realize during his lifetime.
It was his grandson, Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger, who built this house between 1612 and 1643, based on Michelangelo’s drawings.
For the decorations, he turned to some of the greatest artists active in Florence at the time: Pietro da Cortona, Francesco Furini, Artemisia Gentileschi, Empoli al Passignano, Giovanni da San Giovanni and Jacopo Vignali.
In 1799, the palace was confiscated and assigned to the Ospedale di Santa Maria Nuova, but thirteen years later, Cosimo Buonarroti regained its possession and had it restored. Having no heirs, Cosimo left the house to the city of Florence through a will drawn up on February 9, 1858, a few days before his death.
Today Casa Buonarroti is a house museum, containing drawings, sketches, models, paintings, sculptures by Michelangelo and works by artists who were inspired by the master.
Among the most important works are the Madonna della Scala and the Battle of the Centaurs.

The house museum is on the corner of Via Buonarroti, once called "Via dei Marmi Sudici" (roughly tranlated as Dirty Marbles Street), because of the blocks of marble left in the street gathering dust, waiting to be used by the artist for his works.
An interesting place to visit for all lovers of art and the genius of Michelangelo.