The "Italian Garden" was born in Florence in the 15th century. It is "a opened garden", thought like a part and an extension of the house, a private place that is opened to the world. One of the first great patrizie villas with "Italian Garden" is Villa Medici, constructed in Castello, closed to Florence, for the tuscanian getlteman. The garden of Villa Medici has a geometric structure and perfectly symmetrical, the same structure can be found again in every Italian garden of the 16th century. The conception of renaissace's Italian garden is born from desire, typical of that historical period, to find the just equilibrium between rigor rations and creative fantasy. The Italian characteristics that join all the gardens are geometry of the tracings and of the flower-beds, the great use of evergreen trees, the pruned hedges in regular shapes, the wonderful architectures and constant presence of statues and the fountains. In the 17th century the Italian garden was transformed from refined to eccentric. In the 17th century the garden were realized to astonish and to amaze people.
The Boboli Gardens didn't become famous until they became the property of the Medici family, who called Niccolò Pericoli, known as Tribolo, to design them; this artist created a masterpiece of "landscape architecture" between 1550 and 1558. The park, which makes part of the Pitti Palace, was planned to occupy a scenographic setting on the slopes of the Boboli hill (covering 320.000 square metres) and also had access from the square. The park was enriched with many Mannerist inventions by Buontalenti (like the Grotta Grande), fountains and statues by Ammannati, Giambologna and Tacca, and completed by Giulio and Alfonso Parigi (1631- 1656). The two architects, father and son, carried out the stone Amphitheatre, the unique setting for many celebrated theatrical performances, the cypress alley known as the "Viottolone" and the square and pool of Isolotto. The last additions, like the Coffeehouse (1774-76), the Lawn of the Columns (1776) and the Lemonary (1785), were installed by the Lorriane family. Pietro Leopoldo decided to open the garden to the public in 1776. The design of the Boboli Gardens was used as a basis for all the royal gardens in Europe, including Versailles.
Address: Piazza Pitti, 1
Opening times: Winter: every day (except Monday) from 9,00 to 16,30. Summer:
every day (except Monday) from 9,00 to 18,30
Phone: 055 2651816
Ticket: 4 Euro
The first nucleus of the Isola Estate, known today as the Parco delle Cascine,
was bought by Archduke Alessandro in the mid-1500's. The estate was subsequently
expanded by Cosimo I.
Since the beginning of the 17th century the park has been dominated by a majestic
tree-lined lane, first known as the Stradone dei Pini and subsequently as the
Stradone del Re. Under Pietro Leopoldo the park was reorganized, with the addition
of gardening facilities and a guardhouse.
In the second half of the 18th century Archduchess Elisa made the park public,
thus giving the city a vast green area very different from the gardens within
the courtyards of the city's palaces. The Archduchess also had a new entrance
added to the park at Porta al Prato. At the same time, the street that paralleled
the river was straightened and paved.
In the 19th century the gardens of the Cascine were laid out in a romantic style,
and looked very different than they do now. Also, in the course of the 19th
century large areas of the park were transformed into sporting facilities, including
racetracks.
Address: Parco delle Cascine
Opening Times: always open
Ticket: free
The entrance to Florence's Iris Garden is located where Viale dei Colli opens into Piazzale Michelangelo. The garden has more than 2,500 varieties of flowers that has symbolized the city since 1251.
Address: entrance from Piazzale Michelangelo
Opening time: open from the 2nd of May to 20st of May (Monday-Friday: 10-12,30;
15-19. Week-End: 10-19)
Phone: 055 483112
In 1865 the City of Florence asked Giuseppe Poggi, the architect who masterminded the restructuring of the future Capital of the Kingdom of Italy, to turn his attention to the left bank of the Arno. It was May 1895, during the annual Festa di Belle Arti when Poggi offered a magnificent view of the city.
Address: viale Giuseppe Poggi 2
Opening Times: visita consigliata a maggio
Phone: 055 2625305
In 1852 the Academy of Georgofili in order to give life to a Tuscanian horticulture's
Society, it instituted a specific commission in order to experience, to promote
and to diffuse the culture of the gardens.
Six years later, thanks to the donation of the land, the possibility to have
an experimental garden was realized. The land was very big, had a lot of houses
and, after some years, was transformed by the Tuscanian horticulture's Society.
In 1862 it was possible to carry out the first expositions.
Public manifestations and the periodic Expositions in the garden, had a lot
of success, of public and money, so it allowed the investments and new searches
for the Society.
Address: Via Bolognese, 17
Phone: 055 483698
Opening Time: jan-feb-mar 8.30-18.00 apr-may 8.30-19.00 jun-jul-aug 8.30-20.00
sep 8.30-19.00 oct-nov-dec 8,30-18.00
Entrance free
The superior part is like an ornamental forest, with paths in the nature, small
lakes and a vegetation disposed in particular perspective artifices, in order
to mask the real dimensions of the villa. The park was finished by Giulio Parigi.
Also the tree-lined avenue of connection between the villas of Petraia and Castello,
have been built by Parigi. Monumental fulcrum of the villa is the courtyard,
frescoed by Baldassarre Franceschini, said the Volterrano.
The extraordinary decorative program, in baroque style and roman taste, was
commissioned from the Archduke Ferdinand II and executed between 1636 and 1648.
The two small cappellas were decorated from Bernardino Poccetti. The villa became
a summery residence, for the Medici family and then for the Lorena family.
Via della Petraia 40, Castello, 50141 Florence.
From Monday to Sunday
8,15am – 5,00pm in January, February, November, December
8,15am – 6,00pm in March, October
8,15am – 7,00pm in April, May, September
8,15am – 8,00pm in June, July, August
Entrance free
On the back of the Villa there's a garden with terraces, that was built by
Tribolo in 1540. It was so great that Vasari described it like "the richest,
the most magnificent and the most adorned garden of Europe ".
In the center of the garden there was the Fountain of Ercole and Anteo, built
by Tribolo and Pierino da Vinci and realized during the decade 1538-48. Now
there's only the bathtub, and the bronze's group of Ercole and Anteo of Ammannati,
is conserved in the warehouse of Villa Petraia.
Under a terrace, there is the Cove of the animals, thought by Giambologna and
his school, an artificial cove with stalactites, containing groups of animals
of every species, also exotic, carved in stone and marbles of various colors,
or fused in bronze. Through two lateral covered scales we arrive at the park
where there is a bonze's statue of the Ammannati said "il Gennaio".
Via di Castello 47, Castello, 50141 Florence
From Monday to Sunday
8,15am – 5,00pm in January, February, November, December
8,15am – 6,00pm in March, October
8,15am – 7,00pm in April, May, September
8,15am – 8,00pm in June, July, August
Entrance free
In 1904 Sir Arthur Acton, owner of the villa, started to build the garden located on the back of the building. This garden proposes the classical plan, based on three sloping terraces, in the topiaria art and in a romantic manner.
Address: Via Bolognese, 130
Phone: 055 5007201 - fax. 055 5007213
Opening Time: only by appointment
Entrance: price to define through telephone call