Special Easter holidays in Florence staying a boutique hotel steps away from the Duomo square to look at La Scoppio del Carro
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Visit the Opera del Duomo Museum in Florence!
Visit the Opera del Duomo Museum in Florence nearby our hotel!
A weekend dedicated to art and culture in Florence must involve the visit to the Opera del Duomo Museum, a real treasure in the heart of the city, few steps away from our hotel in the historical centre of Florence.
If the institution of the Opera del Duomo was created to be dedicated to the conservation of the monuments of Florence, the Baptistery and the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, the museum of the same name was created at the end of the XIX century to protect the involved artworks.
Today, inside a space of 6000 square metres, you can find the statues and the sculptures that were once embellishing the Dome and the Baptistery at the exterior, now exposed in 28 rooms, together with around 750 artworks of incredible value. Admiring these beauties can really make your weekend in Florence unforgettable!
Safe from the damages caused by pollution and generic acts of vandalism, these artistic records are at your disposal with an exciting route, telling more about the western culture of the origins, going through the charming profiles of the gothic style and the Renaissance.
We suggest you the visit to the Opera del Duomo Museum because it contains the biggest quantity of monumental sculptures of Florence, with beautiful statues and bas reliefs to be admired in their real context, with facades reproduced in full scale, like the ancient one of the Dome.
Donatello, Michelangelo and Ghiberti are the names of some of the artists that created the masterpieces inside the museum, distributed in a way to become one with the Cathedral itself, a real museum inside the museum!
Together with the desire to admire the uniqueness of such a place, you also have a pretty cheap entrance ticket, considering that it will consent you to visit Giotto’s Campanile and the sensational Brunelleschi’s Dome, one of the most iconic symbols of Florence and its landscape.
Moreover, visiting the museum can be quite relaxing, considering that it is often not cited between the things to do in Florence in many travel guides, thus the attendance is regular but never crazy.
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to get more information
about the Opera del Duomo Museum
Book on our official website
a weekend dedicated to art and culture in Florence!
Hotel with gluten free restaurant in Florence city centre!
Among the hotels with gluten free restaurant in Florence, Il Guelfo Bianco offers the delicacies of Il Desco Bistrot, an intimate and relaxed environment where the Tuscan tradition is mixed with the passion for organic food.
All the menus of our restaurant are seasonal and present dishes made only with selected ingredients, coming from our own farm on the Tuscan Hills: a real farm-to-table experience in the heart of Florence!
As guests of Hotel Il Guelfo Bianco, you will be able to easily enjoy local recipes, artworks prepared with organic products, grown in our own vegetable garden, that we daily pick up.
The value of authenticity is what connects our bespoke art hotel and our bistrot restaurant, genuine elements, unique, irreplaceable, offered with passion and dedication.
The same dedication that we reserve for all those dining at our hotel restaurant, choosing from a variety of food, including vegetarian, intolerance and allergies friendly options, like for example the gluten one.
Eat well away from home, without giving up on your needs and habits, we think this is an essential part of a memorable vacation, a weekend in Florence, or somewhere else.
More than the products and the kitchen, there is our staff. A fundamental ingredient to make our guests happy, able to listen to your needs, and suggest what’s best for you, serving every dish with a warm smile and lot of passion for the job, having a chat together, to make you feel “home”.
Like all the experiences in life, also this one must be tried: if you are curious to discover new nuances and flavours, experience the taste of genuine products, absolutely fresh, desiring to ease your palate with popular Tuscan recipes, this is your thing.
During your stay at Il Guelfo Bianco,
you will discover if what we said so far, is true.
We thus wait for you at Il Guelfo Bianco,
write us to receive all the information
and to organise your stay in Florence!
Things to see in Florence: the Ospedale degli Innocenti and its museum!
Among the things to see in Florence, the Ospedale degli Innocenti is for sure in the top list, and it is located only 5 minutes away by foot from our hotel!
Its story is no doubt interesting, and its importance in the history of Florence is indeed peculiar and worth a few words about it.
It was the year 1445 when the construction of the Ospedale degli Innocenti ended, with a project that was born from the desire of a wealthy merchant of Prato, Francesco Datini, father of the modern bill of exchange.
Francesco’s illegitimate daughter, Ginevra, at his death received quite a fortune, to be partly dedicated to the restructuring of the existing Santa Maria Nuova Hospital.
But things went differently, and Ginevra decided to use the money to fund the building of a new structure: the Ospedale degli Innocenti, idea of the Brunelleschi, after that the Cooperation of the Arte della Luna took charge of the work financing.
The peculiar thing about this hospital is the fact that it soon became the place to welcome abandoned children. The number of children born from the rich gentlemen of the period and their slaves was in fact out of control, and such a place was absolutely needed.
We talk about slaves because the city of Florence approved their import in 1364, only clause, they didn’t have to be catholic. More than the usual economic benefit, this act was needed to give new lifeblood to the population, reduced of the 60% after the terrible Black Plague of 1348.
The smart thing about the idea, was that once arrived to the hospital, the kids were freed from their slave status, and became by law free individuals.
In the coming years, after its opening, the institution gathered around 150 children per year, fact that reveals interesting details about the composition of Florence’s society, and about the behaviour of the wealthy Florentine gentlemen, easily seduced by the exotic beauty of these women, mostly from the Middle East.
Today, walking by Via della Colonna, the street flanking the hospital, you can still see the wooden barrel ( The Innocent Wheel ), in the past gathering all the children and delivering them to the hospital, the “nocentini”. Think of all the lives that crossed those doors, and how the city of Florence was like, someway cutting-edge on the theme of acceptance.
Also the museum of the hospital, rich of artworks (like Botticelli’s) laboratories and expositions, is for sure a must see in Florence, as well as the building of the hospital itself, in pure Reinassance style. And if you visit the museum, don’t forget to enjoy a break in the beautiful terrace of the Caffè Verone!
Florence is a sky full of stars, with all its attractions,
many of which are located in the neighbourhood
of our Hotel Il Guelfo Bianco!
Book your room on our official website
and get lost in the wonders of our beautiful city!
Stay in one of the hotels in Florence historic centre: between famous landmarks, “grulli” and hats!
Among the hotels in Florence historic centre, Hotel Il Guelfo Bianco boasts a perfect position to visit all the major city landmarks, some of which hide a peculiar and funny story, such as the story behind the Loggia del Porcellino and its fountain.
The area that today sees one of the most characteristic sculptures of the city, that to say the truth doesn’t represent a piggy but a boar, has been the scene of events that strongly affected the city of Florence and its people along the years.
If the Loggia del Mercato Nuovo (other name of the Loggia del Porcellino), where people were used to trade prestigious silk and brocade coming from all over the world, dates back to the XVI century, it is already from the times of the Signoria (a civic government lead by the House of Medici) that funny things started to happen around here, things apparently normal for those times.
Well, try to imagine, just few minutes away from our hotel in Florence historic centre, a naked man paddled repeatedly on his buttocks over a marble plate, called also “stone of the shame”. It was the merciless and humbling punishment
for defaulted debtors of the merchant city.
These Florentines were terrible!
Around the 13th century, during the disputes between Barbarossa and the Italian municipalities, near the area that today is reserved to all those patting the piggy on the nose wishing for good luck, stopped the float of the municipality of Florence, used also on the battlefield. On top of it, a priest holding a service – necessary if you consider the nature of the mission – and some people holding the banners of Florence: the Grulli!
Grulli were not armed. If the battle was won, they would have come back home with no praise at all, instead if the party was defeated, waiting for them there were only fights and sure death. No need to say they were seen as the suckers, retarded men, dummy and not so prudent. Well, grulli!
Coming back to most recent times, the Loggia del Porcellino hosted till the 60s the stands selling straw hats, one of Florence’s iconic accessories, originally used by the farmers to protect themselves from the sun. From the 1700s instead, the practice of wearing straw hats became pure fashion and city tradition.
If you fancy breathing the atmospheres of one of the most iconic landmarks of the city, the Loggia del Porcellino awaits you only 10 minutes walk from our hotel in the historic centre of Florence, right next to the Dome and the Baptistery!
Book now your room at Hotel Il Guelfo Bianco,
the best rates only on our official website!
Weekend in Florence with the family: the Museum of Palazzo Vecchio!
The summer offers many good reasons to travel to Florence! One of these, is the visit to the Museum of Palazzo Vecchio!
A summer weekend in Florence with the family will be such a natural thing if you start looking at all the opportunities hidden inside one of the most suggestive and ancient buildings of the city.
Itineraries thought also for kids and children, theatrical and interactive laboratories, spectacular setups and curious activities, are only few of the moments characterizing the initiative for the entire family, through a journey in time, fun and moving.
Discover more about
the program of the Museum of Palazzo Vecchio!
The spectacular scenery of Palazzo Vecchio, dipped in history and in the atmosphere of few centuries’ ago, offers the occasion to learn about the uses and costumes of other times, listening to the master Giorgio Vasari talking about the fresco technique, or the chance of being received by Cosimo I de’ Medici in person, right inside its sixteenth-century mansion!
In this game, where the characters of the historical Florence star into the play, there is space also for a trip in the dungeons of the palace, put on vintage clothes, have fun with team games and visit the Museum of the Civiltà del Rinascimento (Renaissance), period that saw the city at its best.
For the families with kids and children wanting to spend a vacation in Florence, the Museum of Palazzo Vecchio represents an experience to be remembered, because every second of the visit is able to create a sense of curiosity and the possibility to learn something new.
If we would have to suggest you a moment of your vacation in Florence to share with your kids, one of the best options we can think of is right the one of the visit at this museum, a different way to transmit culture, fun and knowledge.
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about the visit at the Museum of Palazzo Vecchio in Florence!
