Empoli: Museums, art history and cycling route

Empoli combines a historic centre with museums that explore religious art, the glass industry and geological history. There is also the biography of the painter Pontormo and a cycling route through the city. If you are looking for a hotel in Empoli, this variety offers different starting points for planning your stay—from art history to cycling.

Historic centre and religious art

The historic centre is arranged around Piazza Farinata degli Uberti, a clearly identifiable landmark to help you find your way around the town centre. The Museo della Collegiata di Sant’Andrea offers a special perspective on art history. Founded in 1859, it is one of Italy’s oldest religious museums. The museum preserves several masterpieces from the churches of the Empoli Piviere. The works date from the 13th to the 17th century, bringing together a long span of religious art with a local connection. This focus of the collection differs markedly from the themes of the glass industry and geological history explored by other museums in Empoli.

The glass industry and geological history

The Museo del vetro di Empoli is housed in the Magazzino del Sale, one of the oldest buildings in the city. Its construction dates back to 1365. The exhibition focuses on the glass industry, which has strongly shaped Empoli’s cityscape and local economic development. This brings together two perspectives for a cultural and historical view: the old building and the industrial history explored in the museum. Unlike the religious collection, the focus here is particularly on the role of an economic sector in the city.

The Museo Civico di Paleontologia takes visitors from local industrial history to a much broader timescale. It preserves and displays fossils and rocks from around the world, which together document the last two billion years of Earth’s history. The objects’ global origins and the long geological timescale offer a different focus from the collections on art and the history of Empoli. Anyone interested in natural history will find a distinct way to explore the city’s themes here.

Pontormo and Pontorme

The connection between art and local history is also evident at Casa del Pontormo. The house is in Pontorme, a district of Empoli. Jacopo Carucci, known as Pontormo, was born there in 1494 and spent his youth there as well. A multimedia installation titled “Quiete, silenzio e solitudine” presents Pontormo’s biography and artistic career as an immersive experience. Casa del Pontormo also displays facsimiles of preparatory drawings for the Pala dei Santi Giovanni Evangelista e Michele Arcangelo. Biography, artistic development and preparatory drawings are thus presented in different forms alongside one another. For your interests, this shift between life story and artworks may itself be a distinct focus of a stay in Empoli.

Empoli on a cycling route

In addition to its museums, a cycling route offers a different view of Empoli. The Grand Tour della Toscana in bicicletta – da Siena verso Pisa e Firenze route passes through the city and uses sections of the Ciclovia dell’Arno that have already been completed. For cycle tourists, both the route through Empoli and the inclusion of these sections in the route description are relevant. The contrast with the cultural themes is simple: museums offer insights into collections, art and history; the cycling route is for travellers who want to include Empoli in a cycling tour. When choosing your destination, you can weigh up which of these different ways of exploring is most important for your stay.

Discover more destinations: Osteria Bianca, Linari, Limite, Impruneta, Castelfiorentino, Calenzano, Leccio, Barberino D'elsa

For the wider travel overview: Florence.