The Stibbert Museum in Florence

The history of Frederick Stibbert's house-museum and the works not to be missed

North of Florence, on a hilltop, is Villa Montughi, the home of Frederick Stibbert. Born in Florence in 1838 to a Tuscan mother and an English father, Stibbert was a passionate collector of unique arms and armour, which he gathered in one of the finest collections in Europe. The most impressive section is undoubtedly that of the armour, unique in its richness, internationality and scenography. In the rooms, Italian and German knights parade as if in procession with their armour, mostly dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries. The Ottoman Turkish knights date from the 16th century, while the pieces from the Indian collection from the 16th and 17th centuries. There is also a Japanese collection, the largest in the world outside Japan, with katanas and armour belonging to the last samurai. The paintings include works by Sandro Botticelli, Carlo Crivelli, Domenico Beccafumi, Luca Giordano, Alessandro Allori, Pieter Brueghel the Younger, Neri di Bicci and Pietro Lorenzetti. Among other collections, the antique furniture excels, with chests of drawers dating back to the 15th century, showcases and tables from the 18th century. Leather upholstery is conspicuous.

History

Thomas Stibbert, originally from Norfolk and son of the governor of Bengal (mid 18th century), moved to Italy at the end of the Napoleonic wars; here he met and married Giulia Cafaggi, who gave birth to Frederick Stibberg in 1838. He grew up under the influence of his triple nationality — Italian, British and Anglo-Indian — , which strongly marked his cultural formation.

When his father died, his mother bought Villa Montughi and moved with Frederick and his two sisters to the countryside. Despite studying at Cambridge (at the age of 12 Frederick returned to England to study), Stibberg's heart never forgot his beloved Italy, so much so that he enlisted in Garibaldi's Guides in 1866 for the Trentino campaign. Frederick's military career would end after this experience, but the same cannot be said of his great passion for the military arts.

He then decided to start a collection of weapons and armour from all over the world and, after about fifty years, created his own museum. Gradually, the collection expanded to include antique clothes, paintings, engravings and porcelain. The villa was then divided into two areas: the first dedicated to the museum and the second to the family flats, furnished in the typical rich 19th-century style.

Later he also bought the neighbouring villa, Villa Bombicci, in whose garden he had a reconstruction of an Egyptian temple created, together with an artificial stream and English-style bridges. Given the absence of heirs, so as not to risk the collection suffering damage or loss, he decided to donate the museum to the city of Florence, to which it officially passed in 1906, when Stibbert died.

Stibbert Collection

Armoury

The armoury is divided into three sections: the European, the Islamic and the Japanese. The European collection was created from 1860 onwards and presents a wide range of specimens. The armours, mainly from the 16th century, are complete and perfectly maintained and come from the most important European schools (Italian, French and German); there are wax reproductions of knights and horses wearing them. The weapons, both white and firearms, belong to the 16th-18th centuries, but there is no lack of 14th-century pieces.

Two rooms are dedicated to the Islamic section, filled with weapons and armour from the Near and Middle East. A small part had belonged to his paternal grandfather, but the majority of the pieces come from the Istanbul arsenal, which was dispersed at the end of the 19th century and then the weapons were put on the market.

Finally, spread over three rooms is the largest collection (outside Japan) of weapons and armour from the Japanese world. The collection contains 95 complete suits of armour, 200 helmets, 285 katanas, tantos and yari (swords, ceremonial seppuko knives and long spears respectively) and no less than 880 tsuba (the generally decorated guard of katanas). Actually, in the original plan, these three rooms were to be used for the collection of European armoury, but around 1880 Stibbert began to take an interest in the Far East.

Paintings, porcelain, engravings and costumes

The collection of paintings consists of works from the 16th-18th centuries. These include portraits of the Medici family (who ruled Florence from 1434 to 1494), Botticelli's Madonna and Verrucchio's Madonna.

Among the porcelain, the collection of 19th-century objects stands out, as does the Tschudy collection, which only arrived in the Museum in 1914 and which includes the three large servants by Ginori from 1750.

Unlike the other collections that remain fixed in the museum, the costumes are alternated in temporary rotations. The costumes, from Europe and beyond, include specimens from the 17th century. The collection even includes the dress worn by Napoleon I during his coronation to the kingdom.

The engravings collection was the focus of the ‘Drawings and Prints from the Stibbert Collection’ project, a collaboration between the museum and the University of Siena. The aim was to restore the copious collection of engravings (2750 works), dating from the 16th to the 19th century. The main authors include: Stefano della Bella, Claude Mellan, Raffaello Morghen and Albrecht Durer.

The Park

The park of the villa was remodelled according to the designs of the architect Poggi, who transformed it into an English-style park with small temples, grottoes and water features. The park also contains a lemon house, stables (Stibbert's mother had a great passion for horses), a Hellenistic temple and an Egyptian temple (built between 1862 and 1864). Access to the park is free of charge and is open to the public from April to October from 8 am to 7 pm and from November to March from 8 am to 5 pm.

How to get to the Stibbert Museum

The Stibbert Museum is not located in the city centre, but can be reached in just over twenty minutes. Starting from Santa Maria Novella station, just take the T1 line of the tramway, direction Careggi, and get off at the Muratori - Stazione Statuto stop; the museum is a 15-minute walk from the stop. If instead you have a car, you can easily reach it and park along Via Federico Stibbert. Alternatively, you can take the T1 line towards Villa Costanza and get off at the Cascine stop, from there you can take bus 55 and get off at the Cappuccini stop. From the stop to the museum it is about a six-minute walk.

Opening hours and tickets

The museum is open from Monday to Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from Friday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It is closed on New Year's Eve, Christmas, Easter, 1 May and Ferragosto (bank holiday).

Full price ticket: 10 €
Reduced price ticket: 7 € up to 12 years old, 2 € disabled persons, compulsory school classes and summer centres