Because the Palazzo Pitti was closed in the morning, I decided to venture nearby and check out the Boboli Gardens, which is directly behind the palace. This is an expansive garden originally designed for the Medici, and was opened to the public in 1766.
I learned that it is one of the earliest examples of the Italian garden, and so I strolled its various nooks and crannies. It is well-manicured, and well-maintained, and more or less is an open-air museum.
As I mentioned, this garden has several different "neighbourhoods" so to speak. There's an area that formed a semi-circle and is facing the city. There is also a wide green boulevard that ran through the middle of a sloping plane, and there were also a couple of areas which featured water.
The pictures above show you the fountain that features Neptune, as well as the little island featuring Andromeda. Apparently, the vegetation on this little island was a 19th century addition.
I mentioned earlier that the gardens felt like an open-air museum. That's because there's plenty of statues, in various different styles. There are antique statues, and modern ones. As one strolls around the park, one sees these statues in strategic parts of the garden, sometimes partially hidden from view because of the vegetation that surrounds them.
In any case, I liked this part of Florence. I went in the mid-morning, and it was not crowded at all, so at times I felt like I had the gardens all to myself.
