Discovering Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens

The Medici are the most illustrious ruling family in the history of Florence, yet they were not responsible for building the city's largest palace, the Palazzo Pitti. The latter was built in the mid-fifteenth century by a rival of the Medici who bequeathed his name to it, Luca Pitti, a wealthy banker who was keen to show it off.

To this end, he ordered the construction of this palace in pietra forte, the same stone used for the Palazzo Vecchio, with a façade 200 metres long and 30 metres high! Less than a century later, the rising Medici family acquired Palazzo Pitti, which became the family's main residence in Florence, succeeding Palazzo Vecchio.

Other great ruling families, the Habsburg-Lorraine and Savoy families, occupied the palace over the following centuries, resulting in an extraordinary accumulation of precious objects and works of art within its walls.

Today, Palazzo Pitti is a museum open to the public: through its superb halls, you can discover the Palatine Gallery with its masterpieces by Lippi, Raphael, Botticelli and Caravaggio, the Gallery of Modern Art, the Gallery of Costumes, the Grand Dukes' Treasury (goldsmiths) and the royal flats.

There's something for everyone!

The next logical step after visiting Palazzo Pitti is to stretch your legs in the vast park adjoining the palace: the Boboli Gardens. Pleasant and full of wonderful smells, the garden's paths meander or run in a straight line between cypress trees and Mediterranean species, in a style that is 100% Italian.

When the weather's fine, you can stretch out on the grass and take a break, or take in some lovely views of Florence: we're on the Oltrarno side, on the left bank of the city.

As always in Florence, the Boboli Garden is an opportunity to showcase various works of art, from fountains such as the Fountain of the Artichoke or the Fountain of Bacchus, to sculptures such as the Buontalenti grotto, and original architectural features such as the 18th-century Kaffeehaus.

You can explore the Boboli Gardens as far as the Porta Romana, where the ancient city walls once stood, and then lose yourself in one of Florence's most pleasant districts: Santo Spirito. Away from the hustle and bustle of the tourist trade, here you'll find antique shops, friendly restaurants, bars to go out in the evening, and small hotels... Florence in its real, everyday version!