Giardino Corsi

I was in for another big day of walking, as I finally found time to get to the Giardino do Boboli, or the Medici Family Gardens (for Florence), and I intended to get through the Ufizzi Gallery. I started off by wandering through the gardens, completely randomly but being absolutely struck by the wealth that this family must have had. I mean, I try my best to compare it to the richest of the rich today, and I can only think that they would trump everyone in the modern age. They had hectares of space in the south of Florence, completely dedicated to going on walks. I spent hours in this place, and the number of monuments and artefacts you come across is incomprehensible. This doesn't even begin to mention the house itself. Even for today's age, it is enourmas, I struggle to understand what would be inside. It is basically a castle with the size and walls surrounding the complex. You could go inside, but for a further fee. It is now a museum and would have been interesting, but I have other museums i would rather see first. I will simply leave you to look at the photos for further description of the size of the mansion.

I then made my way to the Ufizzi museum. Getting a ticket was shockingly easy, walked into the building to a line of maybe 10 people, bought my ticket, and walked in. Even the inside wasn't very busy, so that was a major plus. For this reason alone, I think I enjoyed it more than the Vatican Museum. That being said, it started off rather boring, as I didn't have the audio guide, and it was mostly about the history of Florence newspapers, but it did improve. I got to the modern art section in which most of it went way over my head. My capacity to understand art was truly tested there, and I did not pass. There was a drawing of a bull with a cock, that I truly think I could have drawn in grade 6 (and likely did). That being said we made out way to the historical art and monuments. This was much easier to appreciate and understand as I have a pretty good understanding about who or what the monuments were dedicated to. Normally roman empowers or events in Greek, Roman, or Catholic religions. As such this was very interesting, I got to see in person, the sculptors that I have only read about. The art was also much easier to appreciate. Although normally depicting catholic religious events, the skill to complete these works is clearly more impressive than the child's drawing of a bulls cock. This museum was enourmas and you could spend days in there if you wanted to know more about each individual piece of artwork, but I was mostly walking through and taking pictures. Despite this I was still I'm there for 4 hours. Luckily there was a cafe toward the end where you could briefly recharge with a drink. A major necessity after all the walking. The view from the top was incredible, too. The pieces of art that stuck with me the most were The Fall of the Rebel Angles, The Birth of Venus, and the Portrait of a Man with a Medal. All of these had something about them that made them more notable than all of the rest. Whether incredible detail, 3D perspectives or just simple beauty, I found myself most impressed with these.

By the end of these two activities I was sore beyond description. I parked up for a few beers at the Irish pub and began to gear down for bed. But I actually had a ngihtime tour that I had booked that relates to the dark stories and history of Florence. I expected this to be interesting but the person performing the tour was no where near as charismatic or engaging. Either that or I was just too tired but I found myself to be bored most of the time. There were still some interesting stories but nothing too impressive. By the end of this I was incredibly ready for bed, and so headed back and went to bed asap.Read more