The Frederick Stibbert Museum in Florence

On Wednesday we went to Florence for the day. I had some shopping I wanted to do (purse, belts, and scarves!) but we also wanted to visit the Museo Stibbert. It is a collection amassed by Frederick Stibbert in the late 1800s and housed in his mansion on the outskirts of the city.

Stibbert was born to an English gentleman and his Italian wife. He was educated in England but lived most of his life in Italy, when he wasn't traveling. His grandfather--a big mucky-muck in the East India Company and Governor of Bengal--acquired a huge fortune. I believe Stibbert's father died before his grandfather and thus, when the latter died, young Stibbert inherited the fortune. He made excellent investments and died richer than he was born. When he died in 1906 he left his property to the City of Florence as a museum.

From the street where we parked (there is also easy bus access from central Florence) you could see the top of the Duomo. I suspect at one time the view into the city was much better.

Here is the entrance to the museum. There was a special exhibit of Islamic pieces from the collection.

Across the street from the house was a neighborhood church. When Stibbert was alive this area was probably all rural--farmhouses, olive trees, and grapevines.

The house/museum is a bit of a fantasy in itself. It is surrounded by a large park. Visitors are only allowed into the museum on the hour and we were accompanied by a guide. We arrived about 20 minutes early so we wandered around in the gardens by the house for a bit.

The exterior of the building has a large number of bas relief pieces such as coats of arms and small sculptures affixed to the walls. This one is a Della Robia style depiction of St. George and the Dragon. There are a number of St. Georges around the museum including a life-size one with a dragon constructed from crocodile skins.

As we toured the museum and private house we learned the ballroom and dining room both opened out onto this terrace. What a spot for a party!

The grounds have a number of sculptures including this row of Roman-style busts. Stibbert collected a lot of copies of famous pieces. He was interested in costume/clothing design so, I suspect, it mattered less to him if the piece was original than if it was a good depiction of clothing of an era.

A closer look at one of the busts:

Dom wandering the pathways.

This pretty little rotonda was in the garden.

The interior of the rotonda. Once upon a time it was probably a good spot to get out of the sun during the heat of the day.

At the far end of the park there is an old limonaia (lemon house) that has been expanded and obviously is used for parties. There is a separate entrance from the street directly into the building.

Another look at the back of the house.

Inside the museum no photos are allowed. The museum is an extension of his family home and the interiors are stunning even without the collection. His passion was collecting arms and armor but he also was an artist. The first rooms (of about 50!) were full of paintings and arms and armor. One room held a "cavalcade" of horse soldiers--mannequins that Stibbert built clothed man and horse in full armor. 

Further on we visited the private rooms of the house furnished much as they were when Stibbert was alive. Stibbert was an early adopter of new technology so the house had indoor plumbing with a flush toilet and central heating of a sort. The ballroom was beautiful with an amazing fresco about five feet tall around the upper part of the two story room. 

There were so many amazing things to see that we meandered through the rooms and had to be hurried along periodically by our guide. Luckily, the woman was friendly and gave good explanations of the collection, the rooms, and the family history. Tours are supposed to last an hour but our group of seven was there for about an hour and twenty minutes. It is definitely the sort of museum one wants to return to again.

After our tour we went back into the park. The guide told us there was a replica of an Egyptian temple on the grounds. The park is open to the public daily at no cost. It has some sweet water features.

There is a variety of wildlife in the park--ducks and turtles.

The Egyptian temple was a little disappointing. It is small and run down but still evocative of the land of the Pharoahs with steps running down to the Nile river.

The turtles were more fascinating. There were dozens of them. Some of them were stacked on rocks!

There were pigeons resting on a branch in the pond...

...and a large goose resting in the shade of the temple.

After we finished at Museo Stibbert we went into central Florence and had panini for lunch near the San Lorenzo market. I found everything I wanted and then we walked around a bit. It was hot and there were a LOT of tourists. 

We had no itinerary so I suggested we head for my favorite Florentine gelateria near the Il Porcellino statue. Here is a tourist rubbing Il Porcellino's nose.

Venchi is a fabulous gelateria! A lot of people think so. My favorite flavor is Azteca, a particularly rich chocolate.

After finishing our gelato, we meandered around to a few other shops and then headed home.