Explorations of Florence continue with wonderful gardens, palaces, churches and museums, all the staples of urban tourism.
My return visit to Florence, Italy was only two jam-packed short days (check out Day 1). Two days is never enough for Florence! So much was seen in Day 1 of my visit I couldn’t even fit it in one post. They day started with the Duomo (cathedral) and a good wandering through Florence. To finish off the day, a visit to the Boboli Gardens and Palazzo Pitti was in order.
The Palazzo Pitti (or Pitti Palace), Florence’s famous Renaissance palace.
The Palazzo Pitti wasn’t built for any sovereign but for a Florentine banker by the name of Luca Pitti in 1458, although he was never able to finish it before he died. The palace was then bought by Eleonora di Toledo, the wife of Cosimo I de’ Medici, who became the Grand Duke. Cosimo finished and then enlarged the palace, more than doubling the size. The palace was the home of the Medici until the last male heir died in 1737. The palace passed through a few hands, including Napoleon’s, until it landed into the House of Savoy’s in 1860. King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy presented the palace to Italy in 1919, along with the Boboli Gardens, as a museum for all to see. Not only did the palace still contain many of its original contents, but also other state-owned collections.
My favorite part of the Palazzo Pitti is the Palatine Gallery. Renaissance paintings and painted Baroque ceilings galore!
I actually went to the gardens first but I’m going to stay on topic here. The Treasury is on the ground floor of the palace and usually holds traveling exhibits of shiny things, and some permanent collections. The next floor has the Palatine Gallery and the Imperial and Royal Apartments. The top floor has the Gallery of Modern Art, which actually was the modern art of the day when the museum was founded, so Neoclassicism to the 1930s. Most of the interior of the palace dates from the 17th to the 19th century.
Chapel in the Palatine Gallery.
A very modern, Roman-like 18th century bathroom with running water.
Paintings are arranged like they would have been during the Medici era. They were part of a private collection, a very large collection. Displaying them like this was common. Grand Duke Leopold II of Austria was the first to open the collection to the public. He wasn’t too happy about it but he wanted to be popular after taking over from the Medici.
Now in the Imperial and Royal Apartments, which are much more modern, less cluttered. These were used as the living quarters by the Medici and their successors.
The throne room used by the King of Italy. Even after the palace became a museum, the family would periodically stay where the part of the Gallery of Modern Art is today until the end of the 1920s when they visited Florence.
Now onward to the Boboli Gardens. Since it was already the afternoon, the gardens were actually visited first. This was the second time I have visited in the rain. It was still worth it.
The Boboli Gardens lie directly behind the Palazzo Pitti and was conceived in the 16th century, a classic Italian garden. The gardens were for Eleonora di Toledo, the lady who purchased Palazzo Pitti, and only for the Medici family. They never entertained in their giant garden, even after they expanded it in the 17th century. However, after their family line died out, it did finally open to the public as a park in the mid-1700s.
The Boboli Gardens are famous for its dramatic landscapes, views, mini-forests and fountains. In essence, it’s a very simple garden. You won’t find flowers everywhere, but you will find surprises around every hedge.
Behind the Palazzo Pitti is the Amphitheater, which rises up the Boboli Hill. In the center is an Ancient Egyptian obelisk. Italian gardens tend to have a lot of architecture in them, especially terracing, like the gardens at the Villa d’Este in Tivoli.
At the top of the Boboli Hill is a large pond with the Fountain of Neptune. It’s a very long climb to get up there. Maybe that’s why a heron decided to take a break on top of Neptune’s head.
The Boboli Garden also contains a few small museums such as the Porcelain Museum, which is located near the top of the hill. There are a ton of breakable things in there.
The Isolotto. a little oval-shaped garden, with a fountain, surrounded by a pond. It is located on the far-right side of the gardens.
That’s it for Day 1 of Florence, now for Day 2!
Now for more Medici. The day started at two chapels belonging to San Lorenzo. Today, these chapels are part of the Cappelle Medicee and are visited separate from San Lorenzo.
San Lorenzo, the parish church of the Medici. Michelangelo actually designed a facade for the church. It just never happened. It’s actually really pretty inside.
I didn’t visit San Lorenzo on this visit. So, we are going to head around back to see the Medici Chapels. There are two chapels. The oldest was built in the 16th century and was designed by Michelangelo, although it was not finished when he headed down to Rome. He did, however, finish the statues that were needed for two of the four tombs that were going to be placed in the Sagrestia Nuova (new sacristy).
The Renaissance era Sagrestia Nuova by Michelangelo. The Tomb of Giuliano di Lorenzo de’ Medici (a fancy tomb for a forgotten Medici who only ruled for 3 years). The statues are called Night (left) and Day.
The larger Cappella dei Principi was started in the 17th century and doesn’t actually hold any bodies at all. They are all in the crypt downstairs, even though there are sarcophagi in it. The chapel’s dome is so tall that many people use it to navigate in Florence, or at least I do. The chapel cost so much money that the last Medici in the 18th century was still paying it off.
The empty tomb of Francesco II de’ Medici who was son of Eleonora and Cosimo I. He may have been poisoned. Eeek!
Look up and you can see the wonderful frescoes that were added by the Lorraines after the Medici died out.
Down in the crypt, you can see the real tombs and check out some cool reliquaries, which hold the bones of saints. Like this one, which holds someone’s skull.
The Chapel of the Princes from the outside. It’s massive.
San Lorenzo is the main market area of Florence. Nearby is a large covered market building and a whole street full of wonderful shops with cashmere and leather goods and really reasonable rates. You can find a whole bunch of stuff around here. I tend to buy fancy cashmere scarves.
The next stop is the Bargello, part of the same museum system as the Chapelle Medicee and the Palazzo Davanzati from my previous post. A former barracks and prison, this imposing building is now a wonderful art museum dedicated to Gothic and Renaissance sculpture, art and artifacts. Here, you can find sculptures by all the big names, like Michelangelo, Donatello Sansovino, Bernini, etc., as well as some paintings and other smaller works of art. The building is also pretty cool.
I’m not going to bore you with museum pictures, but I am going to show you a bit of the first public building in Florence. Dating to the mid 13th century, the Bargello housed the podesta, the highest magistrate of the Florence city council. In 1574, the Medici got rid of that position and put the police chief here. The building was used as a prison. The interior yard was even used to execute people until 1786, although the police didn’t move out until 1859.
The Bargello is very fortified and has a giant tower. Unfortunately, you can’t climb this one.
The interior courtyard where executions took place. Now it’s for statues.
The chapel, which is needed in any large building of this era. They were able to find some of the original frescoes that had been whitewashed over. Truly amazing! The other artifacts in the room are from other chapels and churches, like the altar piece and the choir stalls.
This loggia is one of my favorite rooms. I just love the blue ceiling. Of course, more statues in here as well. Most of the painting from the Gothic or Renaissance eras are found in other museums.
Onward to another one of Florence’s gems, Santa Croce. Santa Croce lived much of its long life since 1294 without a lovely facade, just like San Lorenzo. However, they finally added this famous Gothic Revival one in the mid 19th century. Fits right in.
The beautiful Santa Croce, with a statue of Dante Alighieri.
The interior of Santa Croce is just amazing. So many frescoes!
Let’s get a closer look at that amazing early Renaissance altar!
Santa Croce is also famous for its tomb of famous dead people, although some are just fancy monuments to famous Florentines. This tomb belongs to Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), best known for being the author of The Prince and is the father of modern political science.
A very fancy memorial for Dante Alighieri (c. 1265-1321), writer of the Divine Comedy. He’s actually buried in Ravenna. See his tomb in this post.
The tomb of Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). This is actually his second tomb here at Santa Croce. He was originally buried in a chapel.
Probably the most famous person buried here at Santa Croce, Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564). Even though he died in Rome, his body was taken to Florence. Not common in the days before embalming.
Santa Croce was connected to a convent. Today the buildings are used as a very lovely little art museum that is part of the entrance ticket to the church.
The next stop was the Museo Galileo, near the Uffizi. Housed in an 11th century building, the museum has a huge collection of early scientific artifacts which started from the Medici collections.
Really cool, old building.
An armillary sphere (1588-1593), a model of objects in the sky. This is the most complex one I have ever seen. It is also the largest. It was at least five feet wide.
Um….just Galileo’s finger. That is all.
So many confusing scientific instruments I can’t begin to explain.
The last stop was finishing up the night at the Museo dell’Opera, the museum of the Duomo of Florence. One of the great things about Italy is that many of the museums are open past 5 PM so you can easily fit some extra nerding in. Here’s a couple of shiny things from my visit.
The original East Doors of the Duomo’s Baptistery, known as the Gates of Paradise. It took Lorenzo Ghiberti 27 years to complete these doors after he was awarded the contract in 1425. A replica now sits in its place on the Baptistery, which most people take photos of today. The Gates of Paradise was the second set of doors he made. He also made the North Doors, which are also in the museum. Those took 21 years.
This is just a very shiny altar that is located in an exhibit with other shiny objects and books.
My two-day visit was very jam packed with history and lovely architecture. You can’t go wrong with Florence. I saw two new museums and returned to some old favorites (which is a must). I also used Florence as a jumping off point for a visit to Pisa, which is an easy train ride away. (Check out Pisa in this post.) All and all, Florence is a great place to visit museums and just explore, just expect to spend more than just two days for a first visit.
Check out my next update where I return to Venice!
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Start at the beginning of my Malta/Italy adventure!
