The current Museo Casa di Dante incorporates some medieval houses, such as one of the two Torri dei Giuochi, the one located in Via Santa Margherita at n.1. The Giuochi family was neighbours of the Alighieri family and became extinct around 1300 with Cesare di Gherardo. The original Alighieri’s house is generally indicated (but without being sure) as a destroyed building that stood in Piazza San Martino, next to the Torre della Castagna, towards the current Via dei Magazzini.
The tower house of the museum owes its medieval appearance to a restoration in 1911 by the architect Giuseppe Castellucci, after which today’s museum was opened.
The museum is essentially didactic, with numerous explanatory panels on the Divine Comedy, Dante, his times and his characters. It preserves reproductions of documents about the poet, models and dioramas that highlight some aspects of his life and historical events of the time, such as the battle of Campaldino. There are also reconstructions of furniture, clothing and other aspects of everyday life in medieval Florence, as well as some original finds, especially excavations, on weapons, coins and ceramics of the time.
