Last day in Florence was sunny enough to go to the Boboli Gardens, the incredible park behind Pitti Palace. First, me and Gio, wandered around Duomo in daylight, just to see the contrast between the deep blue sky and the white marble. There is a point in the square from which you can see the fusion of green, white and reddish marble of the three monuments Duomo, Baptistery and Campanile.
The Boboli Gardens are some of the first 16th century Italian gardens, they’re an exemple of the typical renaissance garden style as it was developed here. The gardens have passed through several stages of enlargement including fountains and statuary,grottos, nympheums, garden temples and other buildings since their foundation were laid out for Eleonora di Toledo, wife of Cosimo I.
The Grotto of Buontalenti is the triumph of artifice. Painted by Bernardino Poccetti (who also decorated the Bianca Cappello house) is divided in three parts and symbolizes the transition of matter from chaos to order, a typical argument of the alchemical studies Francesco I attended. The Kaffeehaus, a rococò pavillion in a dreaming teal-blue tone, seems a lighthouse. Finally we arrived at the Cavalier’s garden: the bush labyrinth and the fantastic bench under a romantic branch make you feel like you’re in another century.
Lisa.
The Buontalenti Grotto (more here)
The Kaffeehaus
Nettuno Fountain
Abundantia by Pietro Tacca
The Porcelain Museum
