Giardino di Boboli, Palazzo Pitti

Behind the Palazzo Pitti, the Boboli Gardens form a vast park home to an impressive collection of sculptures dating from the 16th through the 18th centuries, with some Roman antiquities. These sprawling, splendidly landscaped gardens were initially laid out for Eleonora di Toledo, wife of Cosimo I de’ Medici, with the name likely derived from “Bogoli,” the family who originally owned the land. Although the project was started by Niccolò Tribolo before his death in 1550, it was continued under Bartolomeo Ammannati, with planning contributions from Giorgio Vasari, who laid out the grottos, and Bernardo Buontalenti, who crafted sculptures and the elaborate grotto near the palace courtyard. With its sculptures, fountains, terraced landings, hedge-lined pathways and Rococo pavilion, this Italian-style garden—freer than its French counterparts—would come to set the standard for royal gardens across Europe.

^{Photo: © Ed Webster and made available under an attribution 2.0 license}