The Road Less Traveled In The Boboli Gardens

The Boboli Gardens was commissioned by Cosimo de’Medici for his home in Florence, Pitti Palace, and has hardly changed since.

Everyday when I woke up in Florence, I looked out my window and saw a stunning, unobstructed view of the Duomo. However, as soon as I walked out of my door, I joined hundreds of tourists in Piazza del Duomo all gathered to visit the basilica. Sometimes, it felt like there was no reprieve.

In the midst of the heat and rush of the flooding tourist population, I think every person in Florence is compelled at one point or another to venture across the great divide, the River Arno. On my side of the river, I was conditioned to a close proximity to museums, tourist attractions, and restaurants with English menus. Yet on the other side of the river, I was pleasantly surprised to find a cooler, less crowded, mysterious side of Florence. It is officially known as the “Oltrarno” (literally across the river in Italian) but I came to know it as the Italian Side.

My favorite place on the Italian Side of the Arno was Boboli Gardens. It was the best place for reflection and solitude in Florence. Sometimes, when there is no one around, it feels like you have traveled back in time. The Garden was commissioned by Cosimo de’Medici for his home in Florence, Pitti Palace, and has hardly changed since. It is a well-preserved, classic example of an Italian Renaissance garden. Even though it is geometrically organized and linear, it still feels like a maze. It would take hours to explore all eleven acres.

If you visit Boboli Gardens, when you enter through Pitti Palace you will encounter a huge amphitheater lined with white statues. Start with a hike to the top of the hill so you can admire the view, and then choose whatever direction you please for your return trip. You never know where it will take you. Everywhere you look, ancient and crumbling statues line the pathways. There are even more statues dispersed throughout the large meadow, in a giant island fountain, and up by the rooftop garden. In order to find your way back to the entrance, just follow a shrub lined path or a tunnel of trees to take you back down the hill.

For those who are bold: forego the map and allow yourself to wander. The most rewarding walk you will have through Boboli Gardens is the one in which you are temporarily lost and stumble upon something new. If you do get lost, take a moment to sit and think. There really is no better place in Florence for peaceful reflection in the natural world.

Article written by Lauren Goerz.