Oltroarno and the Pitti Palace

Pitti Palace from the Boboli Gardens

The Pitti Palace was commissioned by Luca Pitti in the mid 1400s.  He was a wealthy Florentine banker who backed Cosimo di Medici until he didn't.  It is rumored he ordered the Palace to have a courtyard big enough to hold the entire Medici Palace and windows larger that the Medici doors.  He eventually went broke and the palace remained unfinished until Cosimo I's wife Eleanor bought, enlarged and moved into it.  It was at this point the famous Vasari Corridor was built to give Cosimo I secret and safe passage between the Uffizi and home.  The place is massive.  It looks more like a huge train station than a home, and in fact is longer than 2 football fields.  Added to this are the 111 acres of Boboli Gardens rising up the hill behind it.  

The last linear Medici gave the Pitti, the Uffizi and all the contents to Florence on the condition that no part of it could be removed from Florence.  The amount of wealth exhibited in both places is beyond my comprehension.  Thinking about the era when these massive structures with elaborate decor were built amazes me.  While the paintings alone are of the most esteemed, the rooms of the Pitti are saturated with plaster ceilings and frescoes that also astound.  Words simply fail me.  

To appreciate the view of Florence from the Boboli Gardens we had to climb a fairly steep stepped path to the crest.  From there we had a panoramic view of Florence and the distant Appenine Mountains.  These gardens set the standard and inspiration for future European gardens such as the Versailles Gardens. 

As we were leaving we saw a sign pointing to the grotto.  Curious, we walked down to find the most interesting structure, an artificial grotto.  It was added onto the end of the Vasari Corridor by Duke Francesco Medici. Embedded in what appears to be dripping concrete are mother-of-pearl, sea shells and stones.  Beautiful and twisted body sculptures emerge from the faux stalactites, 4 of them copies of the originals by Michelangelo.  The information sign asked that we imagine couples secretly meeting her for a rendezvous.  It is also featured in Dan Brown's Inferno. 

At the end of the day we stopped in an il Papiro, or paper store. There are many of them around Florence that sell marbleized papers, cards, journals, etc.  Because we were the only ones in the shop we got a demonstration of how the paper is marbleized.  That led to purchasing 2 blank journals.  Lots of lavish ceiling pics at flickr.

Observations of two visitors.

   Sometimes when there are no tourists one gets special attention.