Museo di Antropologia e Etnologia

About the museum

The museum was founded in 1869 by the anthropologist Paolo Mantegazza with the aim of collecting evidence of human diversity. It is part of the Museo di Storia Naturale dell'Università di Firenze (Natural History Museum of the University of Florence) and is housed in a historic building on Via del Proconsolo. The oldest collections date from the 16th and 17th centuries and come from the Medici collections, born of the family's interest in refined objects arriving from the New World.

Eighteen rooms display objects of all kinds that illustrate the customs and traditions of peoples: clothing, ornaments, weapons, agricultural and domestic tools, musical instruments, cult objects, books and manuscripts. Among the best-known pieces are the artefacts of the Tupinambá from South America, the rare objects of Ainu culture, the Peruvian mummies of the Inca period, the Polynesian Heva mourning dress, and the masks and trophy skulls of the room dedicated to New Guinea.

On the ground floor, the rooms of the Museo Indiano (Indian Museum) house the collections assembled by the orientalist Angelo De Gubernatis during his journey to India, with religious bronzes, ivory panels from the throne of Tanjore, sculptures and architectural fragments of temples. The museum also holds more than twenty-five thousand ethnographic artefacts, anthropological and primatological collections, a plaster-cast gallery and thousands of photographs taken between the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Highlights

• Eighteen rooms of ethnographic collections from around the world
• Two cloaks of scarlet ibis feathers from the Tupinambá
• Peruvian mummies of the Inca period
• Polynesian Heva mourning dress
• Museo Indiano with the collections of Angelo De Gubernatis
• Photographic archive from the late 19th and early 20th centuries

Permanent exhibitions

• Collezioni etnografiche – Eighteen rooms with everyday objects, ornaments, weapons, musical instruments and cult objects from peoples of America, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
• Museo Indiano – On the ground floor, the collections assembled by Angelo De Gubernatis in India: religious bronzes, ivory panels, sculptures and temple fragments.

Founded

1869

Operated by

Università degli Studi di Firenze – Sistema Museale di Ateneo

Admission & discounts

Rates valid from 1 September 2026. Free admission also for ICOM and ANMS members, staff of the University of Florence and of the European University Institute, tourist guides and journalists registered with professional registers. The museum participates in the Firenze Card. For online tickets, the entitlements to reductions or free admission must be shown at the ticket office together with the ticket.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome: no information
• Tactile models & exhibits
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

The ticket office, bookshop and two rooms are on the raised ground floor, with a few steps; a red bell at the entrance lets you call staff to open the secondary access with a ramp and the lift to the first floor. Wheelchair-accessible toilets are on the ground floor, reached from the courtyard. The internal routes are free of architectural barriers and designed to avoid sudden lights and noises; there are some seats in the rooms. A tactile guided tour is planned for the National Braille Day.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops

Family activities for children aged 6 to 11, on Saturdays at 15:00 on set dates (duration 1.5 hours), by booking; also seasonal camps for children aged 6 to 11.

Getting there & parking

About 5 minutes on foot from the Duomo and about 15 minutes from Santa Maria Novella station and Piazza Beccaria. The museum is within the ZTL (limited traffic zone): cars must have a ZTL permit or be left outside; visitors with disabilities who are not residents of Florence can register through the procedure of Servizi alla Strada SpA.

Amenities & dining

• Museum shop

Bookshop near the ticket office; bicycle racks are available in the palazzo courtyard.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit