David Was Not Just a Sculpture.
It Was a Warning.

Florence Walking Tour:
The Unveiling of Michelangelo’s David

Michelangelo’s David was not created as decoration.

It was commissioned as a political statement - a symbol of the Florentine Republic standing defiant against larger powers and internal threat. When the statue was unveiled in 1504, Florence was not calm. It was restless. The Medici had been exiled. Power was fragile. Rival factions watched one another carefully.

David was placed at the gates of the Palazzo Vecchio - not in a church - as a declaration: the Republic stands vigilant.

This immersive, self-guided audio-visual walking tour through Florence’s Historic City Center allows you to experience that volatile moment as it unfolded.

Available on-site or from anywhere.

The Marble No One Wanted

For decades, a massive block of Carrara marble lay abandoned in the cathedral yard. Two master sculptors had already failed to shape it. The proportions were awkward. The stone was narrow. Many believed it unusable.

In 1501, the Cathedral Committee announced a new competition.

Controversially, the commission went to a 25-year-old sculptor - Michelangelo Buonarroti.

For three years he worked in secrecy. The city speculated. Rival artists whispered. Political leaders watched closely.

When the statue was finally completed, officials attempted to unveil it at midnight to avoid unrest.

Instead, a crowd gathered.

Florence would decide whether this unknown sculptor had created a masterpiece - or a mistake.

A Self-Guided Audio Walking Experience Through Renaissance Florence

The Unveiling of Michelangelo's David is an audiovisual tour of the Historic CIty Center of FLorence, Italy

Some history is best understood where it happened.

In The Unveiling of Michelangelo’s David, you walk from the Cathedral through the narrow streets of Florence to the Piazza della Signoria as tension builds. Political intrigue simmers. Medici loyalists maneuver. Mercenaries are hired.

You follow a fictional mercenary, Alessio, through the city on the night of the unveiling - as factions collide and the fate of the statue hangs in the balance.

This is not a lecture about Renaissance art.

It is a narrative reconstruction of a single turning point — experienced in the very streets where it occurred.

EXPERIENCE FLORENCE BY STEPPING INSIDE A TRUE STORY.

AVAILABLE ON YOUR PHONE. ANYWHERE YOU ARE.
Download the BARDEUM app to begin.

LAURA MORELLI

AUTHOR

Laura Morelli is an American art historian and the author of travel guides and award-winning historical fiction, including the historical novel The Gondola Maker.

DAN JOHN MILLER

NARRATOR

An Audie award-winning voice-actor, Dan has been named a “Best Voice” by Audiofile magazine 5 years running. He has also had roles in Walk the Line and Leatherheads.