Park in Florence, Italy
The
Boboli Gardens
(
Italian
:
Giardino di Boboli
) is a historical park of the city of
Florence
that was opened to the public in 1766. Originally designed for the
Medici
, it represents one of the first and most important examples of the
Italian garden
, which later served as inspiration for many European courts. The large green area is a real open-air museum with statues of various styles and periods, ancient and Renaissance that are distributed throughout the garden. It also has large fountains and caves, among them the splendid Buontalenti grotto built by the artist, architect, and sculptor
Bernardo Buontalenti
between 1536 and 1608.
History and layout
[
edit
]
The Gardens, directly behind the
Pitti Palace
, the main seat of the
Medici
grand dukes of
Tuscany
at
Florence
, are some of the first and most familiar formal 16th-century Italian gardens. The mid-16th-century garden style, as it was developed here, incorporated longer axial developments, wide gravel avenues, a considerable "built" element of stone, the lavish employment of statuary and fountains, and a proliferation of detail, coordinated in semi-private and public spaces that were informed by classical accents:
grottos
,
nympheums
, garden temples and the like. The openness of the garden, with an expansive view of the city, was unconventional for its time. The gardens were very lavish, considering no access was allowed to anyone outside the immediate Medici family, and no entertainment or parties are ever known to have taken place in the gardens.
The Boboli Gardens were laid out for
Eleonora di Toledo
, the wife of
Cosimo I de' Medici
.
[1]
The name may be a corruption of "Bogoli"
[2]
or "Borgoli",
[3]
possibly the name of a family who had previously owned the land.
[4]
The first stage had scarcely been begun by
Niccolo Tribolo
[1]
when he died in 1550, after which the construction was continued by
Bartolomeo Ammanati
.
Giorgio Vasari
contributed to the planning, and
Bernardo Buontalenti
contributed sculptures,
[5]
as well as the elaborate architecture of the grotto in the courtyard that separates the palace from its garden.
The garden lacks a natural water source. To water its plants, a conduit was built to feed water from the nearby
Arno River
into an elaborate irrigation system.
[1]
The primary axis, centered on the rear facade of the palace, rises on Boboli Hill from a deep
amphitheater
;
[5]
its shape resembles half of a classical
hippodrome
or racecourse. At the center of the amphitheater and rather dwarfed by its position is the
Ancient Egyptian
Boboli obelisk
[1]
brought from the
Villa Medici
at Rome. This primary axis terminates in a fountain of
Neptune
(known to the irreverent Florentines as the "Fountain of the Fork" for Neptune's trident); the sculpture of Neptune, by
Stoldo Lorenzi
, is visible against the skyline as a visitor climbs the slope.
Giulio Parigi
laid out the long secondary axis, the
Viottolone
or
Cyprus Road
at a right angle to the primary axis. This road led up through a series of terraces and water features, the main one being the Isolotto complex, with the
bosquets
on either side, and then allowed for exit from the gardens almost at Porta Romana, which was one of the main gates of the walled city. In 1617, Parigi constructed the
Grotto of Vulcan
(
Grotticina di Vulcano
) along this axis.
The gardens have passed through several stages of enlargement and restructuring work. They were enlarged in the 17th century to their present extent of 45,000 meters² (111 acres).
[5]
The Boboli Gardens have come to form an outdoor museum of garden sculpture that includes Roman antiquities as well as 16th and 17th century works.
In the first phase of building, the amphitheatre was excavated in the hillside behind the palace. Initially formed by clipped edges and greens, it was later formalized by rebuilding in stone decorated with statues based on Roman myths such as the Fountain of the Ocean (sculpted by
Giambologna
, later transferred to another location within the same garden). The small Grotto of Madama and the Large Grotto were begun by Vasari and completed by Ammannati and Buontalenti between 1583 and 1593.
[5]
Even while undergoing restoration work in 2015, the Large Grotto's statues were still on display; they are defining examples of
Mannerist
sculpture and architecture. Decorated internally and externally with stalactites and originally equipped with waterworks and luxuriant vegetation, the grotto is divided into three main sections. The first one was frescoed to create the illusion of a natural grotto, a refuge that allows shepherds to protect themselves from wild animals; it originally housed
The Prisoners
of
Michelangelo
(now replaced by copies), statues that were first intended for the tomb of the
Pope Julius II
. Other rooms in the Grotto contain
Giambologna's
famous
Bathing Venus
and an 18th-century group of
Paris and Helen
by
Vincenzo de' Rossi
.
The Fountain of Neptune
[
edit
]
In the hillside above the amphitheatre is a double ramp, leading to the
Fountain of Neptune
. Its main feature is a large basin with a central bronze statue of
Neptune
, made by
Stoldo Lorenzi
some time between 1565 and 1568. The fountain was constructed contemporaneously with its more famous counterpart,
Ammannati's
Fountain of Neptune
, which is at the corner of the Palazzo Vecchio at the Piazza della Signoria in the center of Florence. Higher up on the hillside is a statue of
Abundance
(
Dovizia
). Collectively, these works seem to allude to a legend in which the gods Athena and Neptune are competing for the role of the patron of Athens. In that legend, Neptune strikes the ground with his trident, causing water to spring forth from it.
[6]
Fontana del Bacchino
[
edit
]
The
Fontana del Bacchino
is a 1560 sculptural work by
Valerio Cioli
(1529?1599) featuring a statue in the likeness of the famed
dwarf
buffoon
from the court of
Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
,
Nano Morgante
modeled after
Bacchus
and riding a
tortoise
.
[7]
In 1572 the statue was turned into a fountain.
[8]
The Isolotto
[
edit
]
The Isolotto is an oval-shaped island in a tree-enclosed pond, and is nearly at the end of the alternative Viottolone axis. In the centre of the island is the Fountain of the Ocean, and in the surrounding moat, there are statues of Perseus and Andromeda (school of
Giambologna
). The Isolotto was laid out by Giulio and Alfonso Parigi, circa 1618.
Gallery
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Attlee, Helena (2006).
Italian Gardens - A Cultural History
. London: Frances Lincoln.
ISBN
978-0-7112-3392-8
.
- Gurrieri, F.; J. Chatfield (1972).
Boboli Gardens (Florence)
.
- Bernardo Buontalenti and the Grotta Grande of Boboli
, ed. Sergio Risaliti, Maschietto Editore, Florence, 2012.
ISBN
978-88-6394-041-1
- Marco Vichi
In the Boboli Garden
, art book for children, illustrated by Francesco Chiacchio, photo by Yari Marcelli, transl.
Stephen Sartarelli
, Maschietto Editore, Florence, 2015.
ISBN
978-88-6394-094-7
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
Museums
, galleries
and palaces
| | |
---|
Religious sites
| |
---|
Towers (Torri)
| |
---|
Library
| |
---|
Landmarks
| |
---|
Theatres
| |
---|
Squares
| |
---|
Streets
| |
---|
Forts
| |
---|
Gardens and parks
| |
---|
Villas
| |
---|
Events and traditions
| |
---|
|