FLORENCE: PITTI PALACE & BOBOLI GARDENS

On our second full day in Florence we toured Pitti Palace and the adjoining Boboli Gardens, located on the south side of the Arno River.  The tour was well done, but I came away with mixed thoughts about this Florence landmark.  The exterior of the palace does not have the elegance of other European palaces that we have toured.  It has more of a fortress-like appearance that features a massive stone construction, as is evident in the following photos.

In the above shot I wanted to include the figure crossing the courtyard, though he is a little too far away to provide context.

I cropped the following shot and converted it to a black & white to emphasize its symmetry.  Again, I wanted to include the figure in the passageway.  I just wish the sign hadn't been there.

Below is a shot of a wall fountain that is just visible on the left side of the first shot above and was fortunate to get the following exceptionally crisp shot that I liked despite the discoloration.

The Boboli Gardens are extensive and not what I had expected.  I had envisioned a well manicured, relatively level gardens area.  Instead, what we toured was a more natural environment that was much hillier.  Although I took a number of shots, I didn't keep any of them other than this shot looking back at the palace.

Following the tour of the gardens, we got a look at the palace's interior.  And here is where things started to look more typical of palace environments--over the top opulence.

I often find myself shooting ceilings, particularly when they are ornate.  Here are a few examples.

The rooms we passed through were of course over-furnished with  paintings and statuary.  Here are just a couple of examples:

A detail of a painting by Raphael that appears to portray a couple of cherubs reviewing ticker tape results.

And a lovely nude sculpture.

Finally, I spied the following large vase sculpture in one of the palace's side rooms and caught this symmetrical shot--my favorite of those I took in this venue.

John