Garden sights in Florence
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Bardini Gardens
Florence's little-known Giardino Bardini was named after art collector Stefano Bardini (1836-1922), who bought the villa in 1913, restored much of its medieval garden and created new garden elements. Smaller and more manicured than the Boboli, it has all the features of a quintessential Tuscan garden - artificial grottos, orangery, marble statues, fountains, loggia, amphitheatre and a monumental baroque stone staircase staggering up the beautiful tiered gardens - but not the crowds. A springtime stroll is an extra-special joy when its azaleas, peonies, wisteria (all April and May) and irises (June) are in bloom. Its somewhat idyllic, summer cafe terrace, set in a stone…
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B
Giardino delle Rose
For a brief spring moment, this pungent garden comes to colourful life. A plethora of rose varieties and a modest Japanese garden are on show, and you are high enough here to enjoy views over the city too. The main entrance is a about halfway along the pedestrianised street leading up to Viale Galileo Galilei from the San Niccolò area.
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Giardino dei Semplici
Founded in 1545 to furnish medicine to the Medici, these gardens make a nice retreat in a stretch of the city with very little green space. Today its greenhouse is fragrant with citrus blossoms, while outdoors its 2.3 hectares are devoted to medicinal plants, Tuscan spices, and wildflowers from the Apennines.
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D
Boboli Gardens
Behind Palazzo Pitti, the Boboli Gardens laid out in the mid-16th century according to a design by architect Niccolò Pericoli are a prime example of a formal Tuscan garden and they are great fun to get lost in: skip along the Cypress Alley; let the imagination rip with a gallant frolic in the walled Giardino del Cavaliere (Knights' Garden); dance around 170-odd statues; meditate next to the Isoletto, a gorgeous ornamental pool; discover birdsong and species in the garden along the signposted nature trail; or watch Venere (Venus) by Giambologna rise from the waves in the Grotta del Buontalenti, a fanciful grotto designed by the eponymous artist. Other typical Renaissance…
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