Beautiful church with painted ceiling and a tabernacle that looks like a lace jewel. Previously a grain store to prevent famine under siege. The original statues are stored in the museum facing the church. It is worth the visit not only to see the renovated statues but also for the beautiful space , high ceiling and nice views over the city and the Duomo.

We visitedthe Orsanmichele Church during our walking tour of Florence. It was an oratory dedicated to St. Michael. with a vegetable garden surrounding. It was built as a market in 1336 and converted to a church in 1380. The facade had lovely decorations of statues of their patron saints. which are now preserved in the Museum of Orsanmichele. The interior of the church has remained original since it was constructed in the Gothic style.

On my fourth visit to Florence, the church was finally opened. Nice little museum, but one needs to note. Very confusing ticketing - the ticket office is on the opposite side of the building then you go back to enter. Then, you enter the church with no access upstairs so...you have to cross the street opposite the exit to then climb the stairs, cross the very nice foot bridge, then enter the 2nd floor with the statues. The top floor does not have any art, but it does have nice views across Florence. Confusing, but fun to visit and worth it.

Orsanmichele is one of the Bargello Museums located along Via dei Calzaiuoli. It is open from 8.30am to 6.30pm (Mon to Sat) and 8.30am to 1.50pm (Sun). Entry is €8 per person. The Museum consists of a church on the ground floor with a single room with decorative Gothic walls, marble floor and elegant tabernacle of the virgin and St. Anna's Altar amongst a few other points of interest. You then exit the building, cross over to Palazzo dell'Arte della Lana and use their staircase to then access the two museum floors of OrsanMichele by way of connecting footbridge. Not to worry if you're not sure what to do, staff are on hand to assist with directions. One of the interesting features of Orsanmichele is its history as a grain market (lower loggia) and storage house (upstairs warehouse area). The upstairs museum floors really help you feel the scale of the old storage area. It is a great use or space as well, hosting many of the original exterior niche statues. We also really enjoyed the views of the 2nd floor through the large windows facing in all directions. Overall, Orsanmichele was a nice museum experience and a place we were glad to have been able to visit during this trip to Florence.

This was another part of the Bargello Museum and is a church inserted into a 14th century granary. It’s a very tall building despite being only three main storeys, although each was about as high as 4 storeys of our house. It has big gothic windows, arcaded ceilings and sculptures of saints on the outside. The ground floor is the church with a stunning floor to ceiling tabernacle housing a painting of the Madonna, all from the mid-14th century. Frescoes on the ceiling and some of the walls, and a marble statue of the Madonna and child sitting in St Anne’s lap. All stunning and more interesting than the inside of the Duomo. To get to the upper floors you cross the alley outside and go up the stairs in the building opposite. Four large flights take you to a bridge across to the main building. The bridge is open with good views, and the room above the church is the full floor of the building, light and airy with the original sculptures from the outside of the building. The views are good, but then you notice a modern sinuous stair winding up to the floor above. There is then another large light-filled room above with only a few small statues, but with huge windows above the level of the buildings on all sides. There are great views of the Duomo, the Palazzio Vecchio and even of the Palazzio Pitti. You have to be prepared to climb but the combination of the church and the views is unmissable, and hardly any of the people in the crowds passing bother to have a look.