Florence: Boboli Gardens

AG: This past Tuesday our group had the pleasure of visiting Florence for the second time. This time we saw more of the horticulture side of Florence. We went to the Boboli Gardens, which are located 110 acres behind Pitti Palace. As we have learned in class, a typical Italian garden has symmetry, Italian cypresses, and water features. On the picture above, they achieved symmetry by careful math calculations. Buxus sempervirens (box wood) is typically used because it is easy to prune and shear. Another feature we encountered was the abundant usage of the Italian cypress (Cupressus sempervirens). The Italian cypress creates rhythm and repetition and leads the eye through the garden lining walkways and creating focal points. Other visual interests include fountains, which are also typical elements of focal points in historical Italian gardens. Many of the fountains that we saw were very pretty, making the view of the garden overall simply amazing. The Boboli Gardens brought to life the principles of design that we learned in Dr. Lombardini’s lecture this past week. Overall our day in Florence involved an incredible amount of walking, and although at the end of the day the group was completely drained, it was completely worth it. The views that we saw were simply incredible, the flowers were beautiful, and it was a great experience. Being non-horticulture major makes this experience that much more incredible. To be able to not only learn about these gardens by lecture but also seeing it in person makes it that much easier to learn. The experience here so far has been amazing, and I can’t wait to go to Rome next week.