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Cinque Terre and Tuscany cooking Tour (3
nights)
Tuscany Cooking & Touring Tour
(5 nights)
Tuscany Cooking break (3 nights)
Tuscany Truffles Autumn Cooking & Touring
long week-end (2 nights)
Florence Hotels
Florence:
- An introduction
- S. Maria Novella dist.
- S. Giovanni district
- S. Croce district
- S. Spirito district.
- Galleria degli Uffizi
- The Duomo
- Palazzo Pitti
- Florence in two days
- Florence folklore
- Florence history
- Architecture
- The art of goldsmith
- Florence climate info
- Traveling to and in
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Palazzo Pitti - Pitti Palace
Situated at the foot of the Boboli hill in the piazza called "Diladdarno", it
was constructed by Brunelleschi by the wishes of Luca Bonaccorso, in the second
half of 1400.
The first construction of the Palace was much smaller than that
which was ordered, having only 2 covered floors with stone ashlars.
In the course of the centuries that followed, various modifications were made to
achieve what the Palace is today. In 1550, Cosimo of the Medici's purchased it
as a family residence and commissioned Bartholomew Ammannati to design the
portico courtyard and the large windows referred to as kneeling.
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The gardens called Boboli gardens, which get their name from the same hill, were done by a
project given to Niccolò Tribolo. In 1565, Vasari designed an elevated corridor
in order to arrive in the Piazza of the Signoria.
In 1618, work continued with Giulio of Paris and the building was elongated with an additional two bodies on
two floors. It was then that the Grand Duke Ferdinand II called in artists like
Giovanni da Sangiovanno and Pietro da Cortona to render the Palace a real palace
for the occasion of his wedding to Vittoria della Rovere.
It was in 1700 that
the realization of the last addition to Palazzo Pitti was made. Pietro Leopoldo,
in fact, commissioned Gaspare Maria Paoletti and Pasquale Pocciani to design the
little palace of Meridiana in neo-classic style.
Today, Palazzo Pitti houses
many important museums (Silver, Porcelain, Costume, Carriage, and the Boboli
Gardens) through which one can recapture the magnificence and splendor of an
époque from long ago.
BOBOLI GARDENS
This spectacular garden begins from the hill behind Palazzo Pitti and extends
towards Porta Romano; its beauty is due to various interventions throughout the
ages. The creation of the gardens began when Cosimo I of the Medici family and
his wife Eleonora of Toledo purchased the land to build their new palace.
The
architects who worked on the project were Giorgio Vasari (1554-1561), Bartolomeo
Ammannati and Bernardo Buontalenti.
But even in the 17th and 18th centuries, the
Medici's and then the Lorena's enriched the gardens, which besides having
beautiful pathways and woods, is also a real open air museum of sculpture.
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The
first phases of work reveal an amphitheater decorated with antique sculptures,
the Fountain of the Ocean sculpted by Giambologna, the little Grotta di Madama
and the Grotta Grande, jewel of architectural and culture mannerisms, with
internal and external stalactite decoration, even more animated with its play on
water.
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Other important things to see in the Boboli Gardens is the so called "del Forcone" or "Vivaio di Nettuno" fountain and the large statue of "Abbondanza" on
the summit of the hill, initially begun by Giambologna to portray Giovanna
d'Austria, wife of Francesco I, but finished in 1637 as an allegorical figure.
After the Prato dell'Uccellare or Bird Catching Lawn, going down towards Porta
Romana, you will find the Viottolone or Large Path, long path lined with
cypresses and statues leading up to the square of Isolotto, where in the center
you can see the large fountain of Ocean by Giambologna surrounded by another 3
sculptures depicting the Nile, Ganges and Euphrates rivers.
The Coffeehouse,
Lemon house, and Palazzina of the Meridiana were all done in the 1700's during
the Lorraine époque. In 1789, in the center of the Amphitheater, an Egyptian
obelisk, originally from Luxor, was erected.
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Visiting Florence
The four historical districts of Florence are Santa Maria Novella,
San Giovanni, Santa Croce,
Santo Spirito.
(c) 1997-2008 E. Massetti
TangoItalia - Food Wine Travel in Italy - Home
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