A Portion of the Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens

Sunday was such a gorgeous day, crystal clear blue skies and a warm sun, that I decided I had to go out and do something! Since I haven’t been to the Palazzo Pitti and only to the Boboli Gardens briefly I decided to spend the day exploring there. However I didn’t realize just how big Palazzo Pitti was! The mansion started out as the residence of the Grand-Dukes of Tuscany and then later became the residence for the King of Italy. However it has now been turned into a museum and the backdrop of beautiful rooms with painted ceilings only competes with the items displayed.

I ended up just going to the Costume museum (mostly because I got lost and was herded towards it and also I wanted to get outside!). The costumes were displayed in a series of rooms on the “second” floor, which in Italy means about four or five flights up. I can’t even begin to picture how big this place is when the rooms that I saw were only a small portion of the entire place! 

One of my favorites!

Just look at how decorated that room is! I couldn't decide if I should look at the room or the cape!

Anyway, moving on to the exhibit! The dresses were fun to look at and they had a huge section on hats, which apparently they have a large collection of and are just now putting on display. The hats were crazy and unique, fun to look at but hard to picture ever wearing.

After that I found my way out of the Palace and into the gardens. For those of you from Midland, they remind me a lot of Dow Gardens. If you just add some more fountains and estately (I’m making that a word) landscaping you would have the same thing. It was beautiful and a nice break from the city landscape. It was a perfect day for this as all the green reminded me of summer in Michigan while the fresh crisp air reminded me of spring. It was good to breathe in some fresh, clean air after smelling the slight taint of pollution for so long.

I’ve been missing greenery a lot lately but didn’t realize it until I found this nice patch of forest on a side path where I could convince myself I was back at home in a Michigan forest. It was perfect and I ended up sitting there for a half hour or so.

Just look at all those flowers! The fields were covered in them and all the people laying on blankets in those fields made it very picturesque! 

Then, as I meandered farther along I found this field covered in spring flowers with this gorgeous view! Who could beat that??

 I sat there for an hour until I felt I should head back home to grab a snack before going to see the sunset at Piazza Michelangelo.

I’ve written a previous post about this spot, but basically it’s this square with a great view of the city. The sunset was pretty but I want to try and go back when there are more clouds so that it’s even better. A musician was playing on the steps and I listened to her as I watched the sun go down.

Over all it was a beautiful day filled with lovely vistas.