
MM Editor•Apr 19, 2026
Museo di Antropologia e Etnologia Florence — Europe's Oldest Anthropology Museum
At a Glance
Museo di Antropologia e Etnologia Florence opened 1869 — Europe's oldest anthropology museum. Housed in the 16th-century unfinished Palazzo Nonfinito, it holds 150,000 ethnographic objects.
When Anthropology Became a Science
Founder Paolo Mantegazza corresponded with Darwin and assembled global collections from Italian explorers, missionaries and colonial officials.
Highlights
- Captain Cook Pacific voyage artifacts.
- Early 19th-century Amazon collection.
- Japanese Ainu material culture.
- Physical anthropology archive (contextualised).
- Unfinished Buontalenti palace itself.
Visiting Tips
Via del Proconsolo 12, near Duomo. €6. 1.5–2 hours. Check days open — limited schedule.