Palazzo Pitti & Boboli Gardens

I could write pages on what there is to see in this palace, once chosen as the last residence of the Medici Family. Used by all rulers of Tuscany, and also by our first Italian king Vittorio Emanuele II, the building currently hosts 6 museums (which you obviously don’t have to visit all at once).

I recommend the Galleria Palatina, in which you will be paralyzed in front of the many paintings covering almost any empty space of the walls, as well as by the marvellous stuccoes and frescoes decorating all the rooms. With its 13 Raffaello paintings, the Caravaggios, the masterpieces of Rubens, Tiziano, Antonie van Dyck, and so many others, this is certainly one of the places that you will recall once you’re at home. But in case you’ve had enough of Renaissance and you’re in the mood for some modern art you just have to follow up the stairs to the second floor to enjoy the Galleria d’ArteModerna where you get to admire paintings from the early XIX century to early XX century among which the famous local school of the ‘Macchiaioli’, close to French Impressionism. Part of the Pitti Palace is also the Galleria degli Argenti, hosting what remains of the ‘Medici Treasure’ and showing some of the best illusionistic frescoes of the XVII century. The about 11 acres of gardens behind the Palace, called Boboli, with its Renaissance settings and peculiar vegetation, fountains, statues and grottos, have also lots of history to tell…as well as the Costume and the Porcelain Museums.

You can combine the visit of some parts of this palace either with parts of the ‘Oltrarno’ (see section dedicated to this area) or with the Bardini Garden and the Forte Belvedere (when open) on top of the hill.