Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens

Next day we began with the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens. These were the Medici's out-of-town, i.e., across the river, estate.

Facade of Pitti Palace, typically imposing but not well adorned

Interior courtyard

View of Boboli Gardens from Palace

The one painting we really liked, Rubens' Effects of War

Palace from gardens

Ditto, higher up, with Florence in the distance; the gardens are OK but no 
comparison with others we have seen in Italy; not to mention France, the UK, 
etc.

The Medicis, like other nobility of the age, liked to 
surround themselves with wonders and curiosities, 
among them dwarfs, who evidently ate pretty well 
and got to ride around on turtles

The Pitti Palace also has a museum of modern art, which 
we skipped; we hoped the treasury would rival Dresden's 
Green Rooms; not; but they did have this Arcimboldo-esque 
figure

The Palace also has a fashion/costume museum, which we 
hoped would rival that in the Victoria and Albert; not even 
close; but Vicki said to take a picture of this

Overall, we were not so impressed with the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens.