In the late afternoon, we crossed the river to the Oltrano neighborhood to visit Palazzo Pitti as our final stop.
Palazzo Pitti looks like a stone fortress from outside. There were a lot of people chilling at the square in front of the palazzo.
The property was bought in 1418 by Messer Luca Pitti. The original palazzo was built for the Pitti family in 1457. It is debatable whether Palazzo Pitti was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi and built by his pupil Luca Fancelli. In 1549, the palazzo was purchased by Cosimo I's wife Eleonora di Toledo.
Today, Palazzo Pitti, a model of Renaissance architecture, houses the following museums -
Palatine Gallery: holding 16th and 17th century paintings
Royal Apartments: housing furnishings from a renovation done in the 19th century
Silver Museum: containing Medici household treasures
Gallery of Modern Art: displaying mostly Tuscan 19th and 20th century paintings
Porcelain Museum: showcasing tableware and figurines in the Casino del Cavaliere
Costume Gallery: featuring fashion of the past 300 years in Palazzina della Meridiana
Carriages Museum: exhibiting carriages used by the Grand Ducal court in the late 18th and 19th century
Palatine Gallery: holding 16th and 17th century paintings
Royal Apartments: housing furnishings from a renovation done in the 19th century
Silver Museum: containing Medici household treasures
Gallery of Modern Art: displaying mostly Tuscan 19th and 20th century paintings
Porcelain Museum: showcasing tableware and figurines in the Casino del Cavaliere
Costume Gallery: featuring fashion of the past 300 years in Palazzina della Meridiana
Carriages Museum: exhibiting carriages used by the Grand Ducal court in the late 18th and 19th century
We only had 2 and half hours to browse before its closing. It was very rushed. JJ decided to check out Boboli Gardens first because he was having museum & monument fatigue after visiting a baptistry, a cathedral, a palazzo, a library, a basilica, a funeral chapel, and a museum in one day. Browsing in gardens would be a nice change.
Boboli Gardens are one of the greatest open-air museums in Florence. The park features centuries-old oak trees, sculptures, and fountains. It is the archetype that inspired many European royal gardens, especially Versailles.
The courtyard is rather simple.
In the courtyard, there is a coffee shop and gift shop.
It was not crowded when we were there.
Behind the palazzo, we walked uphill to access Boboli Gardens.
You can even see the bell tower and dome of Florence Duomo from Boboli Gardens.
Boboli Gardens are huge. It takes a while to look around in the gardens. It doesn’t matter which way you choose, there is always something that catches your attention and you would slow down to observe the details.
The green Kaffeehaus was where the Lorena family used to have coffee. The rococo Kaffeehaus was built in 1776 by the Lorena family. The word Kaffehaus means literally coffee house as you would have guessed. Having coffee and hot chocolate was a luxury trend among the aristocrat families in the seventeen hundreds. The Lorena asked Zanobi del Rosso to add this building inside the Boboli gardens. The architect replaced the vegetable gardens of the Medici family, the previous residents, with the Kaffeehaus. This way, they could have a specific area to enjoy coffee and hot chocolate with their family and court.
In recent years, the Kaffeehaus had a café inside and there were tables on the small terrace. Visitors could enjoy the beautiful view from the terrace. Later it had been closed to the public. Now Kaffeehaus is occasionally open during some time of the year.
The Egyptian Obelisk standing in the center of the amphitheater was actually brought from Luxor and placed here in 1789.
As you climb up the hill, you will find the Neptune Fountain, also named “the Fork” by Florentines because of his trident.
A statue of a little boy attacking a fish sits in the middle of the fountain in the Rose Garden. It’s intriguing.
The Porcelain Museum is on the top of the hill. Outside the Porcelain Museum is the Rose Garden. There were no roses when this picture was taken because late September is not rose season.
In the Rose Garden, you can have a nice view over hills of Florence’s outskirts full of cypress trees.
Here is the close-up.
It’s very pleasant at the Rose Garden, the panoramic view just relaxes you.
Inside the Porcelain Museum, the chandelier looks like it is made from Venetian glass. It’s very unique.
The interior of the Porcelain Museum is airy and bright. The big windows allow plenty of natural light to come in.
This little boy is amusing. It makes me smile.
What you see in the photo above are Pegasus and the Ancient Bathtub. In Greek Mythology, Pegasus is a winged horse that popped up from the blood of Medusa when Perseus cut off her head. Now, the bathtub is something else. Does that mean if you have a fancy designer bathtub, 500 years from now, it will become art exhibited in a garden?
Before I exited Palazzo Pitti, I was wondering why there was a naked chubby guy sitting on a turtle. What's that all about? It got me curious. This is actually the court dwarf Morgante riding a tortoise.
Braccio di Bartolo, better known as Nano Morgante, was Cosimo I de Medici’s favorite court dwarf in 16th century Florence. At the time, many courts of Europe possessed court dwarves. They were seen as unusualness of nature and considered as possessions by their masters, monarchs and Dukes. The dwarves entertained members of court and provided companionship to their owners.
If you think you are appalled by the sculpture, let’s not jump to the conclusion. There is more to the story. It seems that Nano Morgante was an important part of Cosimo I de Medici’s court. Nano Morgante was given a fee and land. He was allowed to get married and had children of his own. Furthermore, he was portrayed many times in paintings and sculptures by notable artists commissioned by Cosimo. Could it be Cosimo was actually trying to celebrate his companion instead of ridiculing Morgante?
After checking out Boboli Gardens and Porcelain Museum, the palazzo was closing. We didn’t have time to visit the other areas. What a pity. But we were pretty tired also, to be honest.
When we left Palazzo Pitti, the sun was setting. The palazzo looked golden.
We crossed over Ponte Vecchio and went back to the other side of the river. The horse-drawn carriage with tourists passed in front of us.
In recent years, the Kaffeehaus had a café inside and there were tables on the small terrace. Visitors could enjoy the beautiful view from the terrace. Later it had been closed to the public. Now Kaffeehaus is occasionally open during some time of the year.
Braccio di Bartolo, better known as Nano Morgante, was Cosimo I de Medici’s favorite court dwarf in 16th century Florence. At the time, many courts of Europe possessed court dwarves. They were seen as unusualness of nature and considered as possessions by their masters, monarchs and Dukes. The dwarves entertained members of court and provided companionship to their owners.
If you think you are appalled by the sculpture, let’s not jump to the conclusion. There is more to the story. It seems that Nano Morgante was an important part of Cosimo I de Medici’s court. Nano Morgante was given a fee and land. He was allowed to get married and had children of his own. Furthermore, he was portrayed many times in paintings and sculptures by notable artists commissioned by Cosimo. Could it be Cosimo was actually trying to celebrate his companion instead of ridiculing Morgante?
After checking out Boboli Gardens and Porcelain Museum, the palazzo was closing. We didn’t have time to visit the other areas. What a pity. But we were pretty tired also, to be honest.
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