Our last guided tour in Italy was the Palazzo Vecchio and the Boboli Gardens. It was a great touring day but also sad knowing that we were leaving the following day. The entire trip we had wonderful weather, excellent food and great tour guides.

Palazzo Vecchio

Walking into the lobby of the Palazzo Vecchio you see several frescos on the walls. (Apparently they can be moved easily, but not easily restored.) The building is now Florence’s town hall, but it was previously used as a private residence.

Inside, there is a large meeting space. This space was being used for some sort of meeting which caused our tour rescheduling. The ceiling and walls are full of gorgeous paintings and frescos, mostly showing military conquests. Most interesting is one particular painting that is said to have a Leonardo da Vinci painting on a wall behind.

The view of the space from above shows just how huge the room is. It wasn’t always this big though. It was first commissioned by Savonarola (who replaced the Medici during one of their exiles) for the Grand Council. It was later expanded by Giorgio Vasari (who also built the skyway connection between the Uffizi and Palazzo Pitti.) It was during this expansion that the art by Leonardo da Vinci was lost. (Cue Dan Brown.)

Further inside, there are several rooms filled with additional paintings and artworks. Some of these rooms were previous bedrooms while it was a private residence, now used as meeting spaces. The ceiling of one room was especially impressive. And the views of the Duomo were amazing!

There was also a really cool map room. Commissioned by Cosimo I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1563, the room is full of maps, artifacts and a large globe that was being refurbished. Another neat thing was a bust of the infamous Machiavelli. 

Unfortunately the bronze statue of Judith and Holofernes by Donatello was being restored so we didn’t get to see that. Guess who commissioned it. Yep, Medici.

Boboli Gardens

It would have made sense to tour the Boboli Gardens immediately after touring the Pitti Palace, but there was some last minute scheduling issues with the Palazzo Vecchio so we swapped days around. The Boboli Gardens aren’t nearly as well known as the Gardens of Versailles, but I personally like them more.

The views from up above were gorgeous! We hiked all around the gardens, the weather was gorgeous and I even broke a sweat in my all-black outfit. It’s hard to image the Medici family sitting atop the hill looking down at the city of Florence.

The garden includes super old oak trees, statues, enchanting walkways, fountains and even an old cellar. They are apparently rehabbing it so tourist can go in. I joke that it was the original beer fridge.

Like I said, it was our last tour in Florence so we were a bit sad, but also mentally exhausted. There is SO much history only so much space in our tiny little heads.

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