Florence - Florence and Tuscany - page 164

vanni, which sports lavish head-to-toe frescoes (1635-42) celebrating the life of Lorenzo Il
Magnifico - spot Michelangelo giving Lorenzo a statue. 'Talk little, be brief and witty' is
the curt motto above the painted staircase in the next room, the public audience chamber,
where the grand duke received visitors in the presence of his court.
Raphaels and Rubens vie for centre stage in the enviable collection of 16th- to 18th-
century art amassed by the Medici and Lorraine dukes in the 1st-floor Galleria Palatina
MAP GOOGLE MAP ( 8.15am-6.50pm Tue-Sun summer, shorter hr winter) , reached by several
flights of stairs from the palace's central courtyard. This gallery has retained the original
display arrangement of paintings (squeezed in, often on top of each other) so can be visu-
ally overwhelming - go slow and focus on the works one by one.
Highlights include Fra' Filippo Lippi's Madonna and Child with Stories from the Life
of St Anne (aka the Tondo Bartolini; 1452-53) and Botticelli's Madonna with Child and a
Young Saint John the Baptist (c 1490-95) in the Sala di Prometeo; Raphael's Madonna of
the Window (1513-14) in the Sala di Ulisse ; and Caravaggio's Sleeping Cupid (1608) in the
Sala dell'Educazione di Giove . Don't miss the Sala di Saturno , full of magnificent works by
Raphael, including the Madonna of the Chair (1511) and portraits of Anolo Doni and
Maddalena Strozzi (c 1506). Nearby, in the Sala di Giove , the same artist's Lady with a Veil
(aka La Velata; c 1516) holds court alongside Giorgione's Three Ages of Man (c 1500).
Past the Sala di Venere are the Appartamenti Reali MAP GOOGLE MAP (Royal Apartments;
8.15am-6.50pm Tue-Sun Feb-Dec) is a series of rooms presented as they were circa 1880-91
during House of Savoy times.
Palazzo Pitti's 2nd-floor Galleria d'Arte Moderna MAP GOOGLE MAP ( 8.15am-6.50pm
Tue-Sun summer, shorter hr winter) curates 18th- and 19th-century works. The work of the
Florentine Macchiaioli school (the local equivalent of Impressionism) dominates the col-
lection.
Few visitors get as far as the Galleria del Costume MAP GOOGLE MAP ( 8.15am-6.50pm
summer, shorter hr rest of yr, closed 1st & last Mon of month) , a parade of fashions from the times
of Cosimo I to the haute-couture 1990s.

Giardino di Boboli
MAP

GARDEN

GOOGLE MAP

(Boboli Gardens; Piazza Pitti; adult/reduced/child €7/3.50/free; 8.15am-7pm summer, shorter hr winter)
Behind Palazzo Pitti, the Boboli Gardens laid out in the mid-16th century to a design by
architect Niccolò Pericoli are a prime example of a formal Tuscan garden and they are