I spent part of Sunday afternoon strolling through the Boboli gardens and taking pictures. The gardens are lush and formal; with fountains, hedges of boxwood and statues and aliees of sand they are spectacular. Unfortunately, my plans to have us paint there on Monday were stymied by forgetting that museums are usually closed on Monday, and the gardens are situated behind Palazzo Pitti, aka The Pitti Palace, which is a museum with enormous holdings of artwork and also the site of said, Giardino di Boboli.This formidable and impressive Renaissance structure was built around 1458 and was originally the home Florentine banker Luca Pitti before it was bought by the Medici family.
But that's a story to be continued... Since the gardens were also closed we walked several blocks over to the Basilica of Santa Maria del Santo Spirito, better known as Santo Spirito. The current church was built over the ruins of a 13th century monastery, and was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi in the early 15th century. The front of the church faces a square, or piazza, of the same name. The piazza is edged with outdoor restaurants, local vendors, fruit stands and people sitting or milling about populate the center of the piazza.
We stationed ourselves on the steps of the church and had a wide view of the piazza.
Posted by Deborah Dancy
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