In the 1700's, Voltaire wrote that the Renaissance in Italy marked one of mankind's greatest cultural achievements. Today, Italy has the most, and best preserved, Renaissance art in the world. Venice, Milan and Rome boast many well-known masterpieces from this age of enlightenment. However, the largest concentration of high art and architecture of Renaissance Italy, hence of the world, is in Florence. To travel in Florence is to truly take a trip back in time, to the age of discovery, when mankind passed from the darkness of the Middle Ages to a time of luxury, increased artistic freedom and scientific advancement.
Museums in Florence
The museums seem endless, from the Uffizi with Botticelli's Birth of Venus and the Galleria dell' Accademia with Michelangelo's David, to smaller, lesser-known museums such as the Museo Archeologico and Museo di Storia della Scienza.
Leonardo Da Vinci is a classic example of a Renaissance artist in Italy, and his scientific theories and research are as interesting as are his masterpieces. Indeed, the bottom floor of the Uffizi is currently given over to an examination of Da Vinci's scientific research as it relates to his artistic genius. And, of course, the Uffizi has had Da Vinci's "Adoration of the Magi" on display since 1670.