Boboli Garden and farewell lunch

(This is part of our series of posts from our six-week Road Scholar Independent Living and Learning in Florence trip to Italy in Spring 2025. We have an index to all the posts from that trip here.)

On our last full day in Florence, we walked through the Giardino Boboli (Boboli Garden), one of the few places on our “must see” list that we hadn’t yet visited, and then bade farewell to our Road Scholar classmates and group leaders over yet another fabulous meal. Then it was time to pack up our stuff and get ready to leave for the airport at 3:45 the next morning!

The magnificent Boboli Gardens extend behind Palazzo Pitti, from Fort Belvedere (not far from our apartment) to the Porta Romana. The Medici family began building the gardens in the mid-sixteenth century, creating a garden model that became an example and inspiration for many European courts. The vast green area is an outdoor museum filled with ancient, Renaissance, and (relatively) modern statues, decorated with grottoes and fountains.

Standing at the top of the Boboli Garden near the Statute of Abundance, you have a view straight down the hill, past the Fountain of Neptune and the Amphitheater, to the Pitti Palace and the Oltrarno section of Florence beyond.

The Neptune Fountain dominates the center of the gardens. Crafted in the 16th century, this sculpture pays homage to the sea’s power and allure.

Walking down the Cypress Lane toward the Island Basin. Mediterranean cypress trees are a hallmark of the Florence area.

Greenery-shaded pathway toward the Fountain of the Little Snouts.

The Mostaccini Fountain, also known as the “Fountain of the Little Snouts”, consists of a chain of steps decorated with masks spouting water. The water flowed into the rock-carved channel below which served as a birdbath. Birds lured to the water were captured in nets that were spread on the surrounding hedges and bushes. The fountain was completed around 1622, but it fell into disuse in 1772 when hunting in the garden was outlawed.

“Jupiter Olympus” by Giambologna (1560) – just one of the dozens of sculptures that decorate the Boboli Garden.

The Island Basin, defined by a large oval pool with an island in the center enclosing a small garden and the Ocean Fountain, was the focal point of the projects that Grand Duke Cosimo II commissioned in the 17th century to expand the Boboli Garden westward toward Porta Romana. Conceived as a fascinating “water theater,” the Island Basin was the site of complex hydraulic experiments that astounded visitors with amazing water plays.

The Limonaia (Lemon House) at the Boboli Garden was built between 1777 and 1778 (long after the Medici reign) in a general European style. The 100-meter-long building houses a historic collection of unusual, perfumed varieties of citrus that the Medici family collected.

Crafted by Florentine sculptor Giovan Francesco Susini and collaborators between 1639 and 1642, the “Artichoke Fountain” is a late tribute to Mannerism with a nod to the new Baroque style. It was born from the vision of Grand Duke Ferdinando II to adorn the terrace of the Palazzo Pitti where it joins the Boboli Garden. The section of garden below consists of geometric flower beds, bordered by boxwood hedges and planted with seasonal flowers.

Another view of the Artichoke Fountain with the Pitti Palace behind it.

Looking through the Amphitheater in the Boboli Garden from behind the Pitti Palace, up the hill past the Fountain of Neptune and toward the Statue of Abundance at the top.

Selfie squinting into the hot sun as we prepared to leave the Boboli Garden. Summer had definitely arrived in Tuscany, with heat indexes in the upper 80s expected to rise even further in the next few days–uncomfortable in a city where air conditioning is the exception, rather than the rule.

After our visit to the Boboli Garden, we hurried over to Trattoria Sant’Agostino, near Santo Spirito, for a farewell lunch with our Road Scholar classmates and group leaders.