Although Florence has to offer a wealth of art, most people associate the city especially with one masterpiece, with Michelangelo's David. The colossal statue takes the place of honor in the Galleria dell'Accademia of the city and the quantities of tourists, in awe of him, appear minuscule. The statue was built in 1502 by the only 29 year old artist, who took a 5.1 m column of white Carrara marble abandoned by another sculptor and produced the masculine perfection of Il Gigante (The Giant), as David is nicknamed. The exaggerated size and musculature of the statue is a symbol of the then newly created Republic, which had triumphed for a short time on the "Goliath" of the city - the powerful Medici family. The statue stands beneath a rotunda built expressly for it in 1873, when it was moved from Piazza della Signoria (a copy stands in its place on the square). In 1991, David was attacked by glass shield (like the Pietà in Rome).

But David isn’t the only Michelangelo sculpture here - at the beginning of the 20th Century followed an impressive number of other works by Michelangelo: "San Matteo" (St. Matthew) and the 4 "Prigioni" (Prisoners). In the gallery there are also the unfinished Michelangelo's slaves which are caught in marble blocks, from where apparently they were trying to escape. Over the years the Academy became a first rang museum in the panorama of the city, also thanks to a series of unique works like the "Pieta" by Giovanni da Milano (14th century), "The Annunciation" (Proclamation) by Lorenzo Monaco (15th century), the magnificent chest called "Cassone Adimari", which bears the painting of a magnificent wedding (ca. 1450) and the "Madonna del Mare" (Madonna and the sea) by Botticelli (1445-1510). A detailed reorganization and restoration of several rooms on the top floor allowed an extension of the exhibition for more paintings from the 15th and 16th Century. Moreover, recently was opened a hall for visitors, in which are issued the Plaster of Lorenzo Bartolini and Luigi are issued Pampaloni, two famous sculptors of the 19th Century.