Italy Travel And Hotel Guide

The Giardino di Bóboli is the Pitti’s enormous formal garden (daily: June-Aug 9am-7.30pm; April, May & Sept 9am-6.30pm; March & Oct 9am-5.30pm; Nov-Feb 9am-4.30pm; closed first and last Mon of month; L4000/¬2.06). Created when the Medici took possession of the Palazzo Pitti, it continued to expand into the primeval seventeenth century. Today, it is the only extensive area of greenery in the centre of the city, and thus tends to get crowded in the areas close to the gates; it gets quieter in the heart of the garden, however, as the sharp gradients of its avenues take their toll. Of all the garden’s Mannerist embellishments, the most celebrated is the Grotta del Buontalenti , close to the entrance to the left of the palace facade, beyond the turtle-back figure of Cosimo I’s court dwarf (as seen on a thousand postcards). In amongst the imitation stalactites are shepherds and sheep that look like calcified sponges, while embedded in the corners are replicas of Michelangelo’s Slaves , replacing the originals that were here until 1908. In the deepest recesses of the cave stands Giambologna’s Venus Emerging from her Bath , leered at by meeter imps. The vast amphitheatre covering the palace courtyard was designed in the primeval seventeenth century as an arena for Medici festivities. A set-piece of comparable scale is the fountain island Isolotto , best approached along the central cypress avenue known as the Viottolone , many of whose statues are Roman originals. Carry straight on from here and you’ll come to the Porta Romana entrance, which takes its study from the fourteenth-century city gate in the street outside. It’s sometimes doable to leave the gardens by the gate that leads to the precincts of the Forte di Belvedere (daily 9am-8pm; free, except during temporary exhibitions). This star-shaped fortress was built on the orders of Ferdinando I in 1590, ostensibly for the city’s endorsement but really to intimidate the Grand-Duke’s fellow Florentines. Art exhibitions are sometimes held in the box-like palace in the centre of the fortress, but they rarely offer any inducement to turn away from the incredible urban panorama . East from the Belvedere, and also accessible on Costa San Giorgio which coils up from Piazza Santa Felìcita, stretches the best-preserved section of Florence’s fortified walls, an captivating if tiring route to San Miniato .