This museum is off the beaten path and a fun alternative to the very touristy packed places. They…read moreoffer an audio tour and the whole package is well worth the price.

During our tour of Tuscany, we went trough the Museum of Leonardo da Vinci, nestled in the heart…read moreof Vince where he was born. Depending on your interests in da Vinci, will determine your love for what you see. I have always been fascinated by his work and when you go through the museum, you will see some models of his inventions, from a machine to make domes to his flying machines. If you are as fascinated by his work as I am, stop in. It will not take too long to go through the place!

This place is a f*cking TRIIIIIP. I decided to spend some time here after seeing all the adverts as…read moreI was biking around the wall. The place is HEAVILY advertised, but I really enjoyed it despite the high marketing. I have to say, this isn't for children...it's really kind of creepy and mind-bending. I, however, really enjoyed it because it made you feel all the things. Uncomfortable, spooked, skin crawling, but not because it's violent or horror - this museum is the art produced out of human madness and the pain that comes with it. I tried to go through it without the audio, but coughed up the 2.50 euros for it after since I couldn't make any sense. The audio isn't great, but that's not to say you shouldn't get it. It must have been translated literally from google translate, which gave it a strangely literary, poetic feel. It was hard to make sense of because of the odd syntax, but it kinda made sense with the museum in that it kinda didn't make sense. I definitely had to sit for ten minutes outside in the grass trying to decompress after this. Worth it, but not for everyone!

I wanted to review the Certosa di Pisa because it doesn't seem to be very well known but its a…read moregreat place to visit if you have a few hours to spare on your way to or from Pisa. It's a charterhouse (type of monastery) in Calci near Pisa. You have to join a guided tour but it doesn't matter if its not in your language, you will see it just the same! This place is good for the unusual colourscheme of the frescoes in the many chapels, all fluffy pinks and baby blues, not at all austere, not what you'd expect. Also you will see the rooms where the monks spent their time alone, each with a little garden for contemplation and a workshop, and in contrast are the very grand palatial suites of rooms were visiting nobility would stay. Next door there is a natural history museum which is good if you're into bones, fossils, minerals etc.

Sinopie Museum is on the site originally of a hospital, but now houses large frescos meant to be…read moresaved, in a climate controlled indoor space. It is one of six buildings that you can visit as part of the Square of Pisa. You do need a ticket to enter, costing 7€ separately, but included as part of a 10€ package for the other museums (not the Tower) I love how the museum is structured, with 4 total stories (all accessible via elevator), but of different floor space, to allow fresco of different sizes to be displayed. For example the bottom floor housed frescos that took up more than one floor. You can walk through the entire floor space pretty fast if you peruse, but many of the frescos have interesting write-ups next to them, that you can use to study them. There was a nice 3-d rendition of the campus here as well. We spent about 30 minutes here.

Museo Delle Sinopie, is one of the museums that flank the leaning Tower of Pisa. It is a big hall…read morelike room that displays frescoes for the most part. It can be done very quickly. Alex and I took about an hour or so because we examined some of the frescoes closely, but if you just browse about, you can be done in under an hour. All these museums are included with your purchased ticket to go into the tower. If you buy online that is. I am not sure how it works if you are to get your tickets while you are there. As far as museums go, after you've been to so many amazing ones in the larger cities, this one doesn't seem to be all that great, but it is still worth seeing it, there is always something interesting to learn. Also some of the paintings and drawings in the upper levels are great.

You cannot visit Florence without visiting Galleria dell'Accademia to see Michelangelo's David…read more Though I had a tour guide, I felt like the pace was too slow. It's a great museum, don't get me wrong, but I'd rather beat the crowds to see David, and then take my time strolling through all the other works of art. Seeing 17' of David in person is unreal-- a human made this out of rejected marble. The magnitude of David's height and attention to detail is incredible and the lighting under a skylight highlights every vein and definition of muscle even more so. If you're looking for a deep dive art history lesson, I'd recommend using AI. Note: try to book skip-the-line tickets in advance. If you're unable to, you can try to book through a third party booking system such as Viator, but you'll be paying more.

Over a million people visit the Galleria dell'Accademia every year, and they all go to see one…read morething: Michelangelo's David, arguably the most famous statue in the world. The David was sculpted between 1501 and 1504, then unveiled in the public square in front of the Palazzo della Signoria, where it stood for almost 400 years. It was moved to the Galleria dell'Accademia in 1873, and has been the museum's lifeblood ever since. €20 a ticket and more for merch, plus lawsuits for unauthorized use of the David. Pretty, pretty, pretty good. We only had about two days in Florence, one of them set aside for a Tuscan wine tour, but we weren't leaving without seeing the David. Our concierge booked us same-day tickets when we checked into our hotel, and we went at the appointed entry time, at 5:00. The museum was plenty busy, even on a Tuesday during low season, but I believe we visited under ideal conditions. We entered the museum and bam, there was the David, standing majestically in the heart of the Accademia. He was in his own domed alcove lined on one side with bench seating, where people could sit and look up at his giant marble ass. Like everyone else, I'd seen images of the David all throughout my life. But seeing it in person was a revelatory experience. I know size isn't everything, but when it comes to iconic statues chiseled from single blocks of marble, size certainly matters. The David is 17 feet tall and completely breathtaking. A beautiful colossus, every inch of his famously nude body sculpted in wondrous detail. We took advantage of the thin crowd and spent quite some time circling the statue, while also reading about it on Wikipedia from the comfort of the benches. An extraordinary, educational pleasure. The rest of the museum was nice, too, if entirely secondary to the David. There were several other statues and old religious paintings, as well as the Hall of the Prisoners, featuring four unfinished Michelangelo sculptures. These cut a path to the David and were fascinating in their incompletion. Michelangelo apparently saw the work of a sculptor as freeing the forms lying inside each block of stone. This sounds like something an artist would tell a reporter, but looking at those unfinished sculptures, I could see the figures trying to make their way out. The Galleria dell'Accademia is small, and we were in and out in about 40 minutes. If you're a tourist in Florence and have €20 and 40 minutes, I can't imagine a better way to spend them than at David's enormous feet.

Such a ripoff! I wanted the permanent exhibit, which I asked for, and they charged for the seasonal…read moreone which was only two rooms and 12 euros. However, the permanent exhibit was 3 euros, which what I originally asked for and they didn't refund. After that, they wanted to charge me another 3 euros for the one. Not worth it.