You visited Boboli gardens already? You wish to discover another truly enchanted garden in Florence?
Then place on your list the Bardini gardens and you will not be disappointed!
Boboli Garden complex, including Porcelain Museum, Costume Gallery and Museo degli Argenti, has been one of the most visited areas with over 700.000 visitors.
A quite discrete gem of this complex is the Bardini garden, another historic garden of Florence, located in the Oltrarno area. This spans over a vast area, from Michelangelo square till Arno river, touching via De Bardi and Scarpuccia: 4 incredible hectares of joyful green scenery and majestic views.
The area where the garden is located, belongs to the Famiglia Mozzi, a noble Florentine family whose story commenced around the Middle-age.
This very important family-owned vast areas of Florence and in the early 1259, there was a hortus, latin for garden which was surrounding their palace.
The idea of garden is a typical renaissance concept as originally the hortus represented the concept of garden. The hortus was more based on grass and agriculture-like vegetation: the idea of beauty was not there yet and also the necessity to use a garden as hotspot for relax, something that was brought in later on.
In the 1309, the Mozzi family, due to some premature deaths and heavy mismanagement of their fortune, lost all their properties which were bought by the municipality of Florence.
It took over 200 years to the family to regain reputation and financial strength so to acquire again from the municipality all the properties that had to be given away before; Mozzi remained in charge of the Garden and its surroundings till 1880, year where the whole Mozzi family ceased to exist.
The following year the prince Carolath Benten acquired the property entirely.
The current area occupied by the garden is much wider than the original masterplan and it includes Villa Manadora, now known as Villa Bardini.
Over the years, the entire area had undergone constant improvements such as the creations of fountains, walkable paths and more vegetation.
The first Coffeehouse made its appearance alongside with a grotto replicated from a preexisting one in the Mozzi palace. Under the new owner, the garden was redesigned with a strongly prominent Victorian aesthetic.
At the beginning of 1913 the art dealer Stefano Bardini bought the residential complex and started significant operations of renovation, reducing the barriers and making the space all united and accessible to the public.
Bardini’s son died with no heirs and in the 1965 the Garden become property of the city of Florence as per Bardini son’s will.
After years of decay, the place can boast now an enviable allure with huge baroques marble stairs, surrounded by endless patches of roses, iris and hydrangeas. With Boboli ticket you can also visit Bardini garden.
Fully assisted support for impaired visitors and incredibly enjoyable during summer time. In case you’d like to visit let us know and we’ll dou our best to welcome you in Florence!
