Best Way to Visit Statue of David by Michelangelo in Florence

This is where the original David stood by Michelangelo. Until the 19th century, that statue stood right behind me until it was moved to the Accademia. I would hate for you to waste your time in line. Remember that there are two sorts of travelers, those who stand in line and those who don't. Don't even think about coming to see the David in the Accademia without booking your ticket or tour well ahead of time. Wurz is Italy's greatest village with a compact city center, pedestrian-only streets and is bursting with artistic masterpieces. The Accademia Gallery has housed Michelangelo's David since 1873. The museum is located in the city center. Florence is packed with attractions within a 20-minute walking radius of the historic core. The Accademia Gallery is a 7-minute walk from the Duomo and is only 15 minutes from the main train station Santa Maria Novella. If you're headed to lunch after seeing the David, Mercato Centrale is only a 10-minute walk away and the Uffiti Gallery, which is Florence's main museum, is only a 15-minute walk away. Before we get started, give us a like and subscribe and smash that bell so you can keep up with our great content. Don't forget to stay until the very end for some eating recommendations after your visit to see the David. Oh mommy, look at that. I gotta lick it? The David is one of the top things to see in Florence and 2 million people visit the gallery each year. For a masterpiece this popular, you want to book your ticket and tour in advance. There's a variety of ways to get tickets to the Accademia. The best value is to jump on one of our tours, which includes skip-the-line tickets and a Passionate License Guide. If you simply want a ticket without a tour or guide, go online to the official website of the Florentine State Museums. If you show up without a ticket, you're risking wasting your valuable vacation time. Never show up without tickets. The museum is open from 8.15 in the morning to 6.50 in the evening, with the last admission 30 minutes before the museum closes. The price is 20 euros for online tickets with a timed entry reservation, and children under 18 are free. The great thing about the Accademia is that it's small and not overwhelming. The layout facilitates an easy viewing experience with some smaller rooms arranged around a central hallway leading to Michelangelo's David. The first room you'll enter contains a full-size plaster model of The Rape of the Sabines by John Bologna. So this is the first room that you see once you sort of enter the Accademia, right? This is the first impact that you have. And you see it's actually recently been renovated, so I think this nice color actually makes the paintings pop, even though really there is no need for that. I mean, if you just look around. And you can see we have this majestic imposing statue right in the middle. You know, it's a standee piece, right? It's not the final version. In fact... Where is the final version? The final version is actually ironically on the outside. I think it's kind of curious, you know? We have the cheaper version, you know, preparatory one here, kept in the museum and everything, and then the original one in marble on the outside. So in this room, you're going to see paintings by Botticelli, right? You're going to see paintings by Botticelli, by Ghirlandaio, who, by the way, has been, you know, like, the one who kind of like started Michelangelo to be an artist, right? The hallway leading up to the David is lined with unfinished works by Michelangelo known as Prisoners. Their contorted bodies appear to be freeing themselves from the marble. If you look closely, you can see grooves from Michelangelo's various chisels and imagine him working away. You can see the way that Michelangelo approached sculpting. You see, sculpting was not something that you did by removing or by, you know, like modeling a block of marble. Right. But it was more a question of, like, excavating, taking out of a block whatever you had already seen inside, right? So it's like they're being freed from the stone, right? They're trying to fight against all odds to come out of the stone. And that's how Michelangelo sculpted, really. I mean, he didn't normally sculpt with any given blocks of marble. Right. He would pick and choose until he saw this guy, this very guy here, that guy over there. And once he envisioned these people trapped in the stone, he started literally excavating. But that's part of the genius, isn't it? That's it, you know? Can you see he doesn't even bother to knock down the part on the right-hand side? The always impressive 17-foot-tall David is one of the most famous works of art in the world and with good reason. Local Florentine Michelangelo took an unwanted piece of marble and used a biblical story about the triumph of good over evil to carve a piece that still inspires us 500 years later. We see David standing like a Greek god with a slingshot over his shoulder, rock in his hand, ready to face an unbeatable enemy. His gaze and body exude the confidence of youth, free of any fear, with only his God-given ability. In 1504, Michelangelo shocked the world when he unveiled his very first publicly commissioned piece. It was meant to go on the Duomo, but it was so obvious that this piece was special and really symbolized the Republic of Florence. It symbolized humanity and all its greatness. And here now, it's in the Accademia. It used to stand in the Piazza della Signoria until the 19th century. You can now visit it now. And trust me, it is so impressive. It does not disappoint. It's everything you want it to be. It's just incredible. If you're looking for a casual place to eat near the Accademia, I recommend heading to Mercato Centrale, or the Central Market. It was built in 1865, and to this day, it's still a wonderland of food and local products from the region. There's a variety of places to eat, but one spot always keeps me coming back. It's time for the best porchetta sandwich you could possibly hope to have. Trust me, I don't mess around with food. This is what I love about this place. So casual. It's inexpensive as well. The panino was six euros. So you can have an inexpensive, casual lunch in such a fun environment. The whole thing is an experience. Florence is jam-packed with incredible sights. And if you plan well, you can take advantage of your time and see them all. I'm Angel Castellanos for the Tour Guide. Don't forget to comment, like, and subscribe. And ring that bell to find our next video. Happy travels.