Casa Buonarroti is a museum dedicated to the great artist Michelangelo in a house that was created by Michelangelo Buonarroti the younger, the artist’s grand nephew, to exalt his family. It was decorated during the first half of the 17th century with four halls celebrating the glories of the great ancestor and of the family. These were commissioned to the most famous painters active then in Florence (such as Pietro da Cortona, Artemisia Gentileschi, Jacopo Vignali, Cecco Bravo, Cristofano Allori, Passignano, just to mention a few). The mindful descendent also set upon recovering numerous drawings by his great uncle, forming the nucleus of the collection we can now see. Casa Buonarroti, which was left to the city by the last direct descendant, was opened to the public in 1859. The precious Archive and Library can be consulted by scholars. 

The Museum exhibits two masterpieces by the very young Michelangelo: the Madonna of the Stairs and Battle of the Centaurs. There is also a wooden model for the facade of the church of San Lorenzo and, displayed in rotation in a suitably equipped hall, small sections of the richest collection of Michelangelo’s original drawings in the world. The visit of the Museum also includes the art collections of the family, that range from important Roman and Etruscan archaeological findings, to examples of Renaissance and Baroque painting, displayed in a series of highly decorated rooms.