Museo nazionale dell'italiano

The first major museum devoted to the Italian language, in the Santa Maria Novella complex in Florence; currently closed pending completion.

Temporarily closed

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Temporarily closed. The museum is currently closed to the public pending completion of the displays; the reopening previously planned has not been confirmed.

About the museum

The Museo nazionale dell'italiano, known by the acronym MUNDI, is the first major museum devoted to the Italian language. It is housed in the former monastery of the Santissima Concezione, in the Santa Maria Novella complex in Florence, near the station. The acronym evokes the idea of Italian as a language of the world, in contact with many other languages of culture.

The route, designed for adults and children, traces more than a thousand years of the history of Italian and links it to the political and social history of the country, to literature, art, music and science. In the first rooms, opened in 2022, a frieze around the word “sì” (yes) shows how “yes” is said in many languages of the world, and a timeline summarises the main linguistic and historical events. A spiral staircase by Giuseppe Martelli, dating from around 1825, leads to interactive stations on the history of words and on the vocabulary of food.

Among the documents and objects on show are the Placito di Capua of 960, the gold florin of Florence of 1252, the Riccardiano 1035 codex of the Commedia (Divine Comedy) copied by Boccaccio, the Vocabolario della Crusca, the 1840–1842 edition of I promessi sposi, Artusi's cookery manual and the script of Pasolini's Mamma Roma. The museum is currently closed to the public while the displays are completed.