La Specola

Pretty cool... lots of animals used for scientific purposes back in the day! Kinda morbid but definitely worth checking out if you have time to visit! My favorite part was the really cool rocks! The butterfly’s and hummingbirds were a nice sight too!

One of the most interesting museum experiences I've had in a while - and I can't believe how affordable it is in comparison to the other attractions in the city. The anatomical wax collection is mind-blowing - definitely worth the extra €3 for a guided tour (which is the only way you can enter that particular exhibit).

Amazing array of exhibits. Comprehensive zoological samples. Also a historically significant collection of crystals and semi precious minerals. Very historic museum. Entry includes access to the beautiful tribune Di Galileo.

Really nice museum. The time was spent productive and full of fun with my friends. We've had a 3€/person discount from Palazzo Vecchio. The price per entrance is 6€. We saw insects, animals, eggs, fish, brids, everything ?. 2 hours of nature and then we moved to second floor, where we've found the minerals. They were absolutly fascinating, but there are not so many to see. In any case, I recomend this Museum if you have enough time to spent in Firenze.

Really underrated museum! Has a really impressive variety of preserved animals and anatomy models. Some of them are older and from a time when even the taxidermists didn't know exactly what the animal looked like so they are a bit misshapen. Really worth a visit.

As a natural history museum this place doesn't serve its function anymore. It's more of a sad circus today. The condition of the building is tragic. The display is old and largely very dated (descriptions are not translated for the most part, collections are curated "by type" not "by the story"). But it is relatively cheap and on a rainy day - a fine to spend an hour

The museum has one of the best scientific collections probably in the world! It’s a shame it seems so outdated, both in design and presentation, as well as in the building itself. It was always incredibly hot (which didn’t seem safe for the species kept there either), all the subtitles (with rare exceptions) were in italian, so either you take some expert with you or you don’t really understand anything else besides “oh, here are loads of shiny animals”. On the good side, there were almost no people inside, so you can really have a pleasant visit!!! The wax collection was COMPLETELY AMAZING!! I'm just so sorry that we couldn’t spend any more time than the guided visit there! It was an incredible place to draw but we wouldn’t ever manage the opportunity! The visit was nice but, too quick for me. I would like more historical background and, although the guide was super nice, she spoke very quickly and with a very heavy accent so we couldn't understand it all. The museum itself, the premises, entry, patium, don't seem very conserved, it’s a total shame. It lacks a cafeteria,which is also a shame, because the ticket (which is very accessible) allows you to spend the whole day, any part of the day (during opening hours) there. You can go out and come back, but there’s no inside place to rest, which we missed because the whole exhibition was gigantic and we were very tired between exhibitions (we saw 3). It was also hard to have any information online, the summer schedule is reduced. There’s an exhibition we can only book by phonecall but we had no info whatsoever online for that, so we gave up on it. >> Just go prepared to spend a good amount of time there and suffer with the hot weather and no food/resting area around you :’)

Fascinating look at both natural history and the history of museums and displays --some of the artifacts and items have been on display at La Specola for over 200 years! Very cool for science, art, and history buffs alike, or anyone in Florence looking for NOT Renaissance art for a few hours. Get there in time for the guided tour of the wax anatomy collection -- can't miss!