Florence Day 3: 23 April



Rod was impressed by the huge bricks




The front of the Palace

A little bit slower to wake up this morning.  Legs and feet are feeling the pressure a bit.  Decided to try to see the Palazzo Pitti today which is the Palace of mainly the Medicci family.  We went off to get our tickets and Rod was able to get free entry as he is an EU passport holder and over 65 so a whole days sightseeing for 22 Euro today.  No photos allowed so we had to try and take it all in.  We ended up getting access to six different museums and 2 gardens on the one ticket so arrived at 9.45 am and staggered out at 6.30pm.  What an amazing place.  Each room (and there were 100’s of rooms) had decorated ceilings either with plaster work or painted and gilded.  Each one different, most depicting a biblical theme or in the latter years Napoleonic era.  The walls were either painted or covered with damask or silk.  Massive windows, curtains, furnishings and over 1400 paintings on show.  Many rooms had water features in them and beautifully carved furniture over different periods including marble table tops beautifully inlaid with bronze or gold leaf ornate legs. Each room also housed chandeliers bigger than I have ever seen. 

The centre section of the garden

 Hundreds of candles on each one.  Rod said, imagine the poor blokes who had to light and snuff out those candles each day.  Also, replacing them when they burnt low would have taken some time.  

Part of the huge staircase in one wing

There were bedrooms and the throne room and waiting rooms still furnished as if in the 1400’s.  Just amazing.  The gardens were huge and not at all what we had expected.  There were some great labrynth areas and huge trees but not many flower beds or colours.  Again lots of fountains and little hideaways where they would have taken lunch or tea or whatever.  Wonderful views over Florence.  

The view from one part of the garden

The garden was very steep and after going up and down in the palace, the gardens were really hard work.  One of the museums that I particularly enjoyed was the costume museum where they showed the clothing from then and through time.  They had such beautifully embroidered clothes (men and women) and all handmade, even their stockings and handbags, fans, hats etc.   The museum showed how things were made and with what.  The Medicci family employed all of their staff and they all lived in the several palaces around Florence.  Apparently the lady of the house employed a dress designer and paid him the same as the top artist was very paid.  Which was quite a substantial amount by the sounds of things.  We made our way back to one of the piazzas and on the way I bought some scarves.  

Part of the kitchen garden

 We had dinner near the square where David and the others are and just watched the hundreds of people wandering around.  Finally made our way back to the hotel where shoes were kicked off and we could relax.  Being on holiday is really hard work.