After taking a different path yet again to the Ponte Vecchio (trying out different paths to get to your destination is a fun activity to try in Florence. As the city is quite compact, this gives an opportunity to take in the city life and often come across interesting and unexpected sights), I crossed the river and was in the front of the Pitti Palace. The Pitti palace initially belonged to a Florentine banker from where it passed on to the ownership of the Medicis and was later opened to the public by the Italian king in 1919. The palace contains an impressive collection of art and sculpture amassed mainly by the Medicis. The first impression of the palace was not very impressive as the palace facade is quite plain and bereft of any ornamentation. Nevertheless, referring to the old adage of not judging a book by its cover, I plodded on.
The first thing that greets you once you enter the building is a security scanner and some burly security guards (quite out of place in a Renaissance palace, don't you think) but I guess this is necessary given the current situation. I wonder if this process can be made a bit more fun so that it does not take away from the historical experience. We can have the guards dress up in the period costumes or something like that. Anyways, after clearing the security scan, I headed to the ticket counter. I knew that the main things to see here in the Pitti Palace are the Palatine apartments (that house the art collection of the Medicis) and the Boboli gardens. But once I reached the ticketing desk, I realized that the enterprising people here have very smartly found out a way to extort your money. Both these sights are separately priced (at around 10 euros each) and the ticket to the gardens is bunched along with several small museums (of silverware, costumes and porcelain - not very appealing to me). So, if you just want to see the art gallery and the gardens you'll have to buy both the tickets. This seemed a bit unreasonable to me. As a visitor, I should have the freedom to pick and choose the sights I want to see. After some consideration, I thought of just visiting the gardens as I was still reeling from the art onslaught in the Uffizi. Since this came with tickets to several smaller galleries as well, I decided to do a quick jaunt through them. These galleries are situated in the former royal apartments and although the collections were ho-hum, the rooms were a study in opulence and elegance (sorry, no photos as it was not allowed). Each room had exquisite furnishings, ornate tapestries and even the ceilings and walls were decorated with beautiful paintings. I realized one thing from this - no doubt the Medicis had a lot of money but it's clear that they had a lot of taste as well which was evident in the decor of the rooms. After a quick walk through the courtyard of the palace, I entered the Boboli gardens.
These gardens were built for Eleonora di Toledo, the wife of Cosimo Medici, who among other things bore him eleven children and is regarded as being the first modern first lady who served as the ruler of Florence in the absence of her husband. Now, since I had seen pictures of the gardens at Versailles, I had a slight idea about how formal European gardens look like and this one certainly fit the bill. There were beautiful fountains, wide avenues of cypresses and series of geometric hedges. Since this was October, there were not much flowers to be seen but there were plenty of trees displaying the brilliant fall foliage. Another thing that I noticed that these were not perfectly manicured gardens where every tree, bush and shrubbery was trimmed to clinical precision. Rather, there was a slight messy and wild look to it that made it even more appealing to me.
One of my favorite things about formal European gardens is the way they incorporate classical elements like statues, grottoes, small temples midst the trees. I find this juxtaposition extremely fascinating and the Boboli gardens were certainly no exception to this rule. There were a lot of statues scattered here and there in the middle of the trees and shrubs so it was almost a magical experience to suddenly come across a statue nestled among the trees. As with the gardens, these statues appeared a little worse for wear and some were partially obscured by the trees. This gave the whole place a feeling of decayed splendor and a slightly surreal vibe.
As I kept walking, I reached a section of the gardens that was devoid of any other person. As I wandered around among the shrubbery that threw dappled shafts of the setting winter sun on the ground, my mind suddenly drifted off to the myths and legends that I had read as a child . This was a place where one could actually visualize these legends coming true. I could almost imagine Pan sitting near one of the hedges and playing his pipes, Dionysus and his satyrs dancing around intoxicated with wine, Persephone playing with her maidens while Hades waited in the shadows and Aphrodite heralding the advent of spring along with the three graces. I was lost in this reverie for quite some time before the chatter of some other travelers jolted me out of it. As I continued exploring, I realized that I was sweating profusely even though it was a chilly winter day. Actually, these gardens are built on an incline and as you move further upwards, you are actually climbing up a hill. On the plus side, this meant that as I reached the top part of the gardens, I was rewarded with spectacular views of Florence and the surrounding countryside.
Since the gardens were about to close in an hours time, I realized that I still had to see the Bardini gardens which are situated behind the Boboli gardens and admission to them was included with the ticket. After looking at the map, I located the way leading to the Bardini gardens. As I was heading towards the gardens, I saw a fort like structure along the path. According to the signs posted and the map, this was the Belvedere fort.
As I went towards the fort to have a closer look, I noticed that the gates were closed and there was an official sign that said the complex was closed due to some maintenance work. However, as I wandered around I came across another sign. This was clearly not an official sign and instead consisted of a number of newspaper clippings. Most of them were in Italian but there were a few in English. Apparently, there had been a mysterious accident where a young girl fell to her death in the fort and it's been closed ever since. There were some clippings that mentioned that few other people as well as dogs had been found dead in the fort. I didn't know whether this was true or not but the fort now definitely looked quite spooky in the evening light. Also, the fact that there was not a single other person to be seen in the vicinity and there was an eerie silence over the place was enough to send me scampering away from there. I tend not to believe in such silly superstitions but there was definitely an uncanny vibe about the whole place. I later found out that this fort is supposed to be one of the most haunted places in Florence as a lot of people were tortured and burnt here for witchcraft in earlier times. Anyways, after climbing up a steep incline I finally reached the Bardini gardens. The Bardini gardens are relatively modern and are quite well maintained compared to the Boboli gardens. Since these gardens are situated higher up the hill, the views of Florence are even better from here. These gardens also contain a large selection of sculptures most of which are modern and contemporary art.
Although the Bardini gardens were quite beautiful, I had completely depleted my energy resources for the day and was unable to move a step further. Since I had a trip to Venice planned for the next day, I decided to head back to the hotel and rest my aching legs. On the way back, I stopped at a gelato shop and had my first gelato in Florence (vanilla + chocolate & hazelnut). It was absolutely divine and I could now see why people went gaga over authentic Italian gelato. As I walked back to my hotel enjoying my gelato, the sun was setting on the Ponte Vecchio marking the end of another glorious day in Florence. The experience had been wonderful so far and I was looking forward to exploring more of this fascinating city.
