The Innocenti Museum

The Museum tells the six-hundred-year history of the institute through its cultural, historical, artistic and documentary heritage

Area di attività

Promoting and popularising its heritage
Veduta della Galleria d'arte museale con visitatori che osservano dipinti

The Innocenti Museum tells the story of the Institute, founded in 1419 as the Ospedale degli Innocenti, in order to host, care for and educate abandoned children. Since then, six centuries of history have nourished its identity, enriching it with a rare cultural, historical and artistic heritage.

The Museum's exhibition trail is divided into three levels.

The historical section illustrates the evolution of the Hospital, from its origins to the 20th century, through works of art, archive materials, biographies and accounts of those who lived here.

The section devoted to architecture includes the famous Loggiato (Exterior Gallery) by Filippo Brunelleschi and the monumental Courtyards which we can now admire in their original appearance after centuries of transformations linked to the needs of children's homes.

The Art Gallery, above the Loggiato, displays the art collection of the Istituto degli Innocenti: over 80 works dating from the 14th to the 17th centuries. Artists include Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Piero di Cosimo, Luca and Andrea della Robbia. Beyond the Gallery, the Coretto delle Preghiere (nurses’ prayer room) houses devotional and liturgical objects used in the past by the great Innocenti family.

The exhibition trail is complemented by the Museum teaching services of the Bottega dei Ragazzi and a bookshop specialising in children's books.

There is also a pleasant refreshment point on the historical monumental terrace: the Caffè del Verone.

The Museo degli Innocenti has its own website, with lot of information and always up to date with the cultural events and activities on offer.

Address

Piazza della Santissima Annunziata, 13
50122 Firenze

Opening hours:

Open from 09.00 to 19.00 Closed on Tuesday

Last entry: 60 minutes before closing.

For admission and guided tours at weekends, reservations must be made by 6 p.m. on the day before the visit.

Closed on the following public holidays:

15 August, 25 December and 1 January.
For prices, agreements and to book a visit, go to the ticket office on the Museo degli Innocenti website.

#MuseoAperto - L'Istituto degli innocenti e il suo Museo
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Museo degli Innocenti
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Temporary Exhibitions

E l'altra metà serberò io

The Museum also devotes ample space to temporary exhibitions and cultural events, edited by the Institute or in collaboration with other organisations. The offer is inspired above all by themes dear to the institution and its values, with reflections on childhood and adolescence, families and parenthood. The exhibitions are housed in recently renovated spaces, fully accessible and equipped with every comfort for the visit.

Through the Museum, the Institute undertakes to enhance its cultural services (Museum, Archive and Library) in an integrated way with proposals aimed at promoting and transmitting the inexhaustible vitality of this cultural heritage.

2022 saw the birth of the exhibition “And the other half I shall keep. Identifying Tokens of the Ospedale degli Innocenti”(03.11.2022-31.01.2023), an exhibition offer dedicated to tokens, those small objects traditionally worn by children upon their arrival in the historic orphanage that used to identify them and of which the Historical Archive still preserves over forty thousand specimens. An exhibition that also intends to dialogue with children, accompanying them on the discovery of this rare heritage with a narrative designed for children through the illustrated story "The broken coin. A story of Tino il Nocentino" and the videoinspired by it.

The exhibition is extended until May 9, 2023

The Museum's exhibition offer is always updated on the Museum's website.

E L'altra metà serberò io. I segnali di riconoscimento dell'Ospedale degli Innocenti
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Galleria degli Affreschi

La Galleria degli Affreschi, sede dal 1971 di un significativo nucleo di affreschi staccati e consegnati in deposito all’Istituto degli Innocenti dalle Gallerie Fiorentine (oggi Gallerie degli Uffizi), è in questi mesi oggetto di lavori di riqualificazione.

L’obiettivo dell’intervento di riqualificazione è di valorizzare questi pregevoli spazi dello storico ente fiorentino ricongiungendoli al percorso museale già esistente, di cui rappresentano un’ideale prosecuzione e coronamento, ampliando l’accessibilità e la fruizione delle opere d’arte presenti al loro interno da parte delle persone con disabilità.

Il percorso di visita comprenderà la Galleria con i suoi affreschi, le due stanze del Priore destinate ad accogliere attività culturali o piccole esposizioni temporanee, la Cappellina con affresco con affaccio sulla Chiesa, che potrà ospitare focus monografici o altre attività di approfondimento.

Il progetto è stato ideato e sviluppato dal Servizio Archivio, Museo e attività culturali assieme al Servizio Patrimonio, infrastrutture e servizi tecnici dell’Istituto ed è oggetto di finanziamento nell’ambito del bando PNRR del Ministero della cultura, M1C3-3 – Investimento 1.2. Rimozione delle barriere fisiche e cognitive in musei, biblioteche e archivi.

Attualmente collabora al progetto anche la Scuola di specializzazione in Beni storico-artistici dell’Università degli Studi di Firenze.

logo finanziamento dell'Unione europealogo del Ministero della culturalogo Italiadomani PNRR

Using images and videos

Sala museale detta del Ghirlandaio con dipinto di Domenico Ghirlandaio all'interno e un visitatore che lo osserva

Anyone wishing to use or acquire images and videos of the cultural heritage of the Institute and Museum for reproduction purposes is required to formalize an application and send it to the competent office using the completed request form. The concession and the terms for the use of the materials are subject to the Regulations of the Istituto degli Innocenti.

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Last update: 03/06/2025 - 19:09