Villa La Pietra, Florence

As an NYU abroad student in Florence, I go to classes in La Pietra. I walk around the house all the time (I'm like THIS with the tour guide who, like many, is an impressively knowledgable fellow student). There is not one room that won't astound you with the sheer quantity and quality of artwork. The museum, actually a villa owned by the Acton family as well as Italian families dating back to the Renaissance, is arranged in exactly the same way as it was when it was inherited by the art-collecting Acton family in the late 20th century; it is, however, a sterling example of life from the late 19th to mid-20th century. Also, the gardens are fabulous.