Last Full Day in Florence: Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens

Tuesday was our last full day in Florence. We spent the morning sleeping in.

We decided to tour the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens. Since we didn't preorder tickets, that involved standing in what looked like a long line. After days of moving non-stop, there was something calming about standing still. The line moved fairly quickly.

We began our tour by climbing to the top floor to see the Modern Art exhibit. There 26 rooms just in this exhibit alone; each room had a theme. In this instance, Modern Art was defined as the late 19th century Italian Renaissance Art. 

Of note, some of the rooms had art in them that seemed similar to art seen in earlier rooms, but by artists copying the original work.

I liked this statue of a
woman reading a letter

Looks familiar

Some of my other favorites:

As happened inside the Uffizi, the views outside were mesmerizing.

I can see why people become artists living here.

Stunning views of Florence.

We went down a flight to a special exhibit on Rudolf Levy, a German Jew who was exiled in Florence before perishing when he arrived at Auschwitz. The time he lived in Florence was considered the most prolific of his lifetime. Italy has a way of inspiring all. These rooms had 47 of his paintings.

 

Down another flight of stairs to the apartment. Apartment felt like a misnomer as it was more rooms filled with artwork. I did see Napoleon's bathroom and wondered where everyone else bathed. For as much as we saw, I feel we missed a lot. I did see the Costume Exhibit was closed that day (bummer!).

Capturing child labor?

Some chairs! But not for us to sit on.

The chapel

The Music Room

Hidden musical symbols made
this the music room

Nice touch!

Napoleon's bathroom

 I love the tiles!

Another reminder of World War II was this hallway exhibit of recovered artwork that was stolen during the war and only returned to the Pitti Palace in 2019. It is now behind glass.

Recovered artwork

Cosimo's favorite dwarf

Both sides captured

Perhaps I was punch happy by this point, but my favorite was a front and back painting of Cosimo's favorite dwarf. Who has a favorite dwarf?

The exhibit on restoration of a painting Pope Leo gave to his nephew when he got married was educational and entertaining. The details in a well made painting are so easy to overlook, and once seen make perfect sense. One detail was the illuminated Bible he is reading, with his reading glasses next to it.

Before

After

One final statue that caught my eye.

 

Unfortunately Don's runny nose from Sunday caught up with him and he wanted to rest more than usual.

Reading the description of the Pitti Palace afterwards there was mention of an exhibit on Cosimo's wife -- the woman who insisted he buy a nicer place to live than the Old Palace where he had been living.  We also missed the Treasury of the the Grand Dukes. I did see the hallway leading to the museum of Russian icons, but was tired of museums by that point. The place is HUGE!

We headed outside to enjoy the Boboli Gardens.

As we did not take a tour, I'll just leave you with some of my favorite pictures from the day. Unfortunately, though it was mid-April, not much was in bloom.

From here we found lasagna for lunch.