The Museum of Casa Martelli

The Museum of Casa Martelli has been founded in recent times: acquired by the Italian State in 1999, it underwent serious restoration work for ten years in order to save the remarkable frescoed rooms and to adapt spaces to public safety regulations, and therefore it opened to visitors in 2009, as mentioned in the following introductory pages. After the 2014 Ministerial Reform, this monumental building has become part of the Bargello group of museums. It is a unique museum in its kind, that tells the story of one of the families most closely related to the Medici, their partners in commercial and financial operations throughout Europe. Evidence of the bond between the two families is given by the direct participation of the Martelli in the Council of Florence (1439), by their ancient dwellings in via degli Spadai (now called via Martelli) right next to the residence built by Cosimo il Vecchio in via Larga, and by the family chapel they patronized inside the Medicean Basilica of San Lorenzo designed by Brunelleschi, adorned with the Annunciation by Filippo Lippi. The Museum of Casa Martelli is part of the larger mansion located on the street that was once known as Via della Forca, where a branch of the noble family had lived from the Seventeenth century, and still holds an important “quadreria” (picture gallery) in spite of some unfortunate sales that took place mostly between the late Nineteenth and the early Twentieth century. The guidebook covers the main stages of the varied family fortunes, up to the final donation of both the building and the collection to the Italian State. Rooms as seen today are explained in minute detail, including the description of the decorated ceilings and of the objects on display. The current set-up is based on precise archival research studies, and doesn’t miss to convey the private dimension of a great noble family.

Paola D’Agostino, Director Bargello Museums