Everyone goes to the Accademia for Michelangelo's David. They see the 5.17m marble giant, take a photo, and leave thinking they've understood Florentine sculpture. They've seen the ending. The STORY — how Renaissance sculptors reinvented the human body over 200 years — is at the Bargello. Donatello's David (1440s): the first freestanding nude sculpture since antiquity — a slim adolescent in a hat, sword resting on Goliath's severed head. Verrocchio's David (1473-75): the confident youth that Leonardo da Vinci modeled for (he was Verrocchio's apprentice). Then Michelangelo's David (1504). Without seeing the Bargello first, you don't understand what Michelangelo was responding to. Florence museums →
Ground Floor: Michelangelo's Brutus (unfinished, piercing gaze — his only bust), Bacchus (drunk god swaying, early work), and the Tondo Pitti (Madonna relief). Cellini's bust of Cosimo I (bronze, intensely detailed). First Floor — Salone di Donatello: THE room. Donatello's bronze David (center) — study the pose: weight on one foot, hat tilted, Goliath's head between his feet, the first nude since Rome. Donatello's marble David (1408 — the earlier, clothed version, totally different energy). Donatello's St. George (marble, from Orsanmichele — the most psychologically intense saint sculpture). The competition panels: Brunelleschi and Ghiberti's 1401 competition panels for the Baptistery doors — side by side, the moment that launched the Renaissance. Second Floor: Verrocchio's David (bronze — the one Leonardo posed for). Andrea della Robbia glazed terracottas. Giovanni della Robbia works.
Via del Proconsolo 4. €9. Open Wed-Mon 8:15am-2pm (check for extended hours). Duration: 1-1.5h. Zero crowds (everyone is at the Accademia). The strategy: Bargello 8:15am (Donatello, 1h) → walk 10 min → Accademia 9:30am (David). See the journey THEN the destination.