Criminals and Tourists: Prison History and Museum Politics at the Bargello in Florence

This study reveals how the Bargello, Florence's former prison and judicial site, was strategically transformed into a museum to reframe its violent past. The research demonstrates that the museum's curatorial approach leveraged the building's history of torture and punishment to create an aesthetic experience for tourists, effectively replacing the site's judicial function with a new cultural narrative. By analyzing textual descriptions, architectural transformations, and historical documentation from the 19th century, the study highlights how the Bargello's material culture was manipulated to serve the ideological agendas of the Risorgimento movement. The findings underscore the power of material culture in shaping historical memory and public perception, illustrating how a site once synonymous with cruelty was repurposed as a symbol of cultural renewal.

Terry, A. (2010). Criminals and Tourists: Prison History and Museum Politics at the Bargello in Florence. Art History, 33(5), 836–855. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8365.2010.00784.x