The Museo degli Innocenti occupies the former Ospedale degli Innocenti on Florence’s Piazza della Santissima Annunziata. Designed by Filippo Brunelleschi, its graceful portico of slender columns and rounded arches is a landmark of early Renaissance architecture. Blue-and-white terracotta roundels of swaddled infants by Andrea della Robbia recall the building’s original purpose: caring for children who could not be raised by their families. The institution received its first children in 1445.
Inside, the Museum of the Innocents brings Renaissance art together with the history of the foundlings who lived here. Ghirlandaio’s Adoration of the Magi, painted for the institution’s church, is a highlight of a collection that also includes work by Botticelli and Piero di Cosimo. Small tokens left with children, sometimes in the hope of identifying them later, give the museum’s social history a particularly human scale. Although rooted in Christian charity, this is not a conventional church visit.
Allow 60 to 90 minutes, and check the official website for current opening hours and ticket prices. The museum is about a ten-minute walk from the Duomo and pairs easily with the Accademia Gallery or the nearby Basilica della Santissima Annunziata. Before leaving, look out for the rooftop café and its views over Florence’s tiled roofs toward the cathedral.