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Number 8 of 20 in Florence

Boboli Gardens: the Medici's garden on the hill

When Eleonora of Toledo bought the Pitti Palace in 1549 she bought the hillside behind it too, and set the court's architects to turn it into a garden. It took them and their successors more than a century.

What it is
Garden
Time to allow
1.5 to 2.5 hours
Cost
Ticket
Best time
Morning in summer, mid-afternoon in spring and autumn

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    Why the Boboli Gardens is worth it

    Niccolò Tribolo drew the first plan and died in 1550 with the work scarcely begun. Bartolomeo Ammannati, Vasari and Bernardo Buontalenti carried it on. What they made was something new: a garden as a piece of architecture, with a straight axis running up the hill from the back of the palace, statues at every turn and water brought in by aqueduct. The gardens of Versailles are its grandchildren.

    It is a climb. The ground rises steeply from the palace courtyard to the walls at the top, and the reward for the effort is the view: the dome and the towers over the palace roof on one side, olive groves and villas on the other, as if the city stopped at the garden wall.

    It is also the one large green place in a city of stone. There are few flowers. This is a garden of clipped hedges, gravel, cypress, ilex and marble, at its best in the long light of spring and autumn.

    What to see

    1. The amphitheatre

      Directly behind the palace, shaped like half a racecourse and cut from the quarry that supplied the palace's stone. An Egyptian obelisk stands in the middle, and court spectacles were staged here.

    2. Buontalenti's grotto

      Near the entrance by the palace: three chambers made to look like a cave dripping with stone, built between 1583 and 1593, with shepherds and sheep emerging from the walls. Michelangelo's Prisoners once stood in its corners, where casts stand now.

    3. The fountain of Neptune and the top of the hill

      Above the amphitheatre is a pool with Neptune and his trident. Keep climbing to the statue of Abundance and the small walled garden at the summit, for the widest view.

    4. The cypress avenue

      The Viottolone, a long straight avenue lined with cypresses and statues, runs downhill from the top towards the Roman gate.

    5. The island

      At the foot of the avenue, an oval pool with an island of lemon trees in pots and a fountain of Ocean at its centre, reached by two gated bridges.

    6. The Bacchus fountain

      By the way out: the court dwarf of Cosimo I, fat and naked, riding a turtle. He is the garden's least dignified statue and its best loved.

    How to do it well

    • Wear proper shoes and bring water. The paths are gravel, the slope is steep and there is little shade on the main axis.
    • The gardens close on the first and last Monday of each month, and close early in winter. Last entry is an hour before closing.
    • They are shut without warning in high wind or storms, for the danger of falling branches.
    • You can leave by the gate at Porta Romana or by the one at the Belvedere fort, and need not walk back down to the palace.
    • The Bardini Garden, a few minutes' walk from the upper gate, is smaller, has a wisteria tunnel that flowers in April and a terrace with a café.

    Where it is

    Address

    Behind the Pitti Palace, entered from its courtyard in Piazza de' Pitti

    Nearest station

    Santa Maria Novella station, about twenty minutes on foot

    Museums and sights nearby

    Distances are in a straight line.

    Tickets and tours: Boboli Gardens

    Boboli Gardens: common questions

    Are the Boboli Gardens worth it?
    Yes, if you like gardens as architecture and do not mind a climb. Come for the grotto, the amphitheatre and the views. Do not come for flowers: there are few.
    How long does it take to walk the Boboli Gardens?
    An hour and a half for the main axis, the grotto and the top of the hill. Two and a half if you go down the cypress avenue to the island and back.
    Where is the entrance to the Boboli Gardens?
    The main entrance is through the courtyard of the Pitti Palace. There are also gates in Via Romana, at Porta Romana and at the Belvedere fort.
    How much time do you need for the Boboli Gardens?
    Allow 1.5 to 2.5 hours. That is this site's estimate for an unhurried visit.

    What visitors say about the Boboli Gardens

    Rating from Google

    4.1

    31,123 ratings on Google

    Google's figures as read on 11 October 2026.

    Read every review on Google

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