Boboli Garden - Palazzo Pitti - Florence

Boboli is considered around the world as one of Italy’s most famous gardens, a symbol in the Italian art of gardening. The park is the result of two initiative: in the XVI century garden was created behind the Pitti Palace; between 1630 and 1631 the cypress avenue designed by Giulio Parigi was planted.The construction of this Medicean garden began when the wife of Cosimo I, Eleonora, purchased the land knows at the time as the “Pitti garden” from the name of the first owners.The task to design the new garden was commissioned to Niccolò Pericoli even if numerous artists worked on it, during the years. When Pericoli, called Tribolo, died he was succeeded by Davidee Fortini, then by Giorgio Vasari (1554 �” 1561), Bartolomeo Ammannati (1560 �“ 1583).Boboli represents the model for the garden-museum, a place created to display ancient and modern statues. A moltitude of elements over the course of centuries have contributed to make up this extraordinary work of art.In the early XVII century Cosimo II decided to extend the garden, destroying the old mazes to make room for the carriage drive designed by Pasquale Poccianti.Among the most suggestive elements within the garden you can admire: a small rose garden in the vicinity of the little Madama Grotto, with its imposing statue of Jove; the great hedges lining the paths through the ancient selvatici (wild areas) and the ragnaie, a particularly fascinating section of the park, dating back to XVII century; the Isolotto in the centre of its pool in a splendid Baroque garden on water.The garden can be appreciated in all its splendor above all behind the severe facade of the Pitti Palace where the Moses Grotto is situated, and above it the Fountain of the Artichoke. In front of the fountain a geometric garden permits to observe the perspective that unites the different levels of the garden.Walking around the Boboli garden you can encounter among the most significant monuments: an amphitheatre that at the centre hosts a large granite pool and the Egyptian obelisk; the Fountain of the Mostaccini; the Fountain of  Oceanus; the cypresses avenue; the meadow of columns; the botanical garden; the Palazzina della Meridiana; the limonaia, still used today to shelter the five hundred urns of citrus trees in winter.

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