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SPRING 2024

Uncovering Michelangelo’s “secret room”

Opened to the public for regular visits from November 15, for the first time since its discovery in 1975, the tiny space accessible via the New Sacristy in the Museum of the Medici Chapels contains charcoal drawings attributed to Buonarroti and is open on an experimental basis to small groups of visitors until July 31.

The “secret room” was uncovered in November 1975, while a suitable new exit for the museum was being sought. The then director of the museum, Paolo Dal Poggetto, instructed the restorer Sabino Giovannoni to carry out cleaning tests in a narrow corridor beneath the apse of the New Sacristy. The small room—10 metres long, three metres wide, and two and a half metres high at the top of the vault—was used to store slack coal until 1955, and then remained unused, sealed and forgotten for decades below a trap-door blocked by various items of furniture.

Upon removing two layers of plaster, Giovannoni discovered several figure drawings in charcoal and sanguine, which Dal Poggetto mostly attributed to Michelangelo. His theory was that they had been carried out while the artist sought refuge in this space in 1530, when the Prior of San Lorenzo, Giovan Battista Figiovanni, hid him from the wrath of Pope Clement VII, who was infuriated because the artist (during the period in which the Medici were driven out of the city) had served as supervisor of the city’s fortifications for the short-lived republican government (1527-30).

He obtained forgiveness after around two months, between the end of June and the end of October 1530, when he was finally free and resumed his duties in Florence until he left the city for Rome in 1534. Dal Poggetto posited the theory that the drawings produced during the artist’s “self-confinement” used the walls to “sketch out” some of his projects, such as works from the New Sacristy like the legs of Giuliano de’ Medici, Duke of Nemours, and details such as the head of Laocoön. The works are still the subject of scholarly debate.

The director general of museums in Italy, Massimo Osanna, stated,

“The completion of the works on the new exit and the adaptations to align the Museum of the Medici Chapels with safety regulations enable the opening of Michelangelo’s Secret Room, an extraordinarily fascinating place that’s extremely delicate due to the location of the narrow space in the museum and the need to protect the charcoal drawings found on the walls.”

Director of the Bargello museums, Paola D’Agostino, commented,

“It was time-consuming, constant and painstaking work, involving various professionals, and I wish to thank all the staff of the Bargello Museums that worked with me over these years to achieve this goal. Among them, I owe special thanks to Francesca de Luca, an art historian and director of the Museum of the Medici Chapels and the Casa Martelli Museum, and to Benedetta Cantini, official restorer at the Bargello Museums, for the special care they have given to this extraordinary space. My deepest gratitude goes to colleagues of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure organization.”

The room is accessible by reservation to a maximum of four people per guided group, up to a limit of 100 people per week in 15-minute-long visits. The limited number is necessary due to the need for alternate periods of exposure to LED light with extended periods of darkness. Stable temperature and humidity are essential for safeguarding the valuable artifacts, with extensive monitoring carried out by the Opificio delle Pietre Dure.

The space was originally opened from November 15, 2023, to March 30, 2024, in order to evaluate the effect of the numbers on the preservation of the space. Due to the extremely high demand and the success of the tests carried out, the visits were subsequently extended to July 31.