The Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze is 2 minutes from the Accademia (where David is) and 95% of visitors walk right past it. Inside: the Chimera of Arezzo (5th century BC — the most famous Etruscan bronze in existence, a lion-goat-snake hybrid writhing in pain, discovered in 1553 and immediately claimed by Cosimo I de' Medici), the François Vase (570 BC — the most important painted Greek vase in existence, 270 figures depicting 7 mythological narratives), and an Egyptian collection that is the 3rd largest in Italy after Turin and Naples. €8. Empty. 2 minutes from the most crowded museum in Florence. Etruscan guide →
Chimera of Arezzo (5th century BC): A bronze lion with a goat's head growing from its back and a serpent for a tail — wounded (the goat head turns to bite the serpent tail in pain). Found in Arezzo in 1553, taken by Cosimo I, restored by Benvenuto Cellini (he added the serpent tail — the original was lost). The most expressive animal sculpture from the ancient world. François Vase (570 BC, by potter Ergotimos + painter Kleitias): A black-figure volute krater (mixing bowl) with 270 figures in 6 registers depicting: the wedding of Peleus and Thetis (Achilles' parents), the Calydonian boar hunt, Achilles pursuing Troilus, the funeral games of Patroclus. EVERY figure is LABELED by name — 121 inscriptions, making it the single most informative Greek vase. Shattered in 1900 by a museum guard who threw a chair at it in a fit of madness. Reconstructed.
Egyptian collection (2nd floor): Mummies, sarcophagi, Fayum portraits, a Hittite chariot (the only one in Italy). The Medici collected Egyptian antiquities 200 years before Napoleon's expedition — this collection predates most European Egyptian museums. Etruscan sarcophagi + urns: Including the Amazon Sarcophagus (4th c. BC — battle scenes carved with proto-Hellenistic dynamism).
Piazza della Santissima Annunziata 9b. €8. Open Tue-Sun 8:30am-2pm (check for extended hours). Duration: 1-1.5h. THE combo: Bargello 8:15am (Donatello) → Accademia 9:30am (David) → Museo Archeologico 11am (Chimera). 3 museums, 3 hours, the complete evolution of Italian art from Etruscan to Renaissance, before lunch.