The Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze holds one of the most important Etruscan collections in the world, assembled from excavations across Tuscany and from the Medici family's antiquities holdings. The star pieces are two ancient bronzes: the Chimera of Arezzo (5th-4th century BC), a fire-breathing lion-goat hybrid discovered in 1553 and immediately acquired by Cosimo I, and the Arringatore (Orator), a life-size bronze figure of a Roman-era Etruscan magistrate in formal toga.
The Egyptian collection, one of the largest in Italy, occupies the upper floors — largely assembled in the 1820s and containing mummies, canopic jars, and tomb objects. The Greek and Roman sections include important bronzes and a strong collection of Attic vases. The museum is housed in a 17th-century palazzo that floods periodically (the 1966 flood caused major damage) and is chronically understaffed, which means not all rooms are always open. Check ahead. A short walk from the Galleria dell'Accademia.