For anyone who will be fortunate enough to travel to Italy in the future. Do not miss the Museo Stibbert in Florence, Italy. It is the house of Frederick Stibbert who amassed a grand collection of art, arms, and armor in the latter half of the 19th century. I was lucky enough to find this underrated museum while I was visiting and will never forget it. It has the most stunning collection of engraved, inlayed, and carved firearms dating from the 1600's to the 1800's. It also have a very impressive collection of European armor, the grand hall alone has 14 complete knights on horseback. It also has the largest collection of Japanese armor and weapons outside of Japan. The tours are a little rushed and unfortunately no pictures are allowed. I really wish there were better resources and pictures of the immense and impressive collection. Please feel free to post any information you may find through research or any photos. Here is a link to the website translated by google.
http://translate.google.com/translat...DX%26ndsp%3D21
Here is also the wikipedia page about the museum.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stibbert_museum