Giardino Bardini in Florence is delightful

You can thank my friend, Laurie, that this photo I took in one of the most beautiful places in Florence has finally made it onto the blog.

It's the Giardino Bardini on the other side of the Arno, a garden that's connected to the Boboli Gardens but which just might be superior (especially if you enjoy terraced gardens).

(Oh and it's a terraced garden that overlooks the city of Florence. Not too shabby!)

I visited it for the first time during a vacation long after I'd left Florence. In fact, I'm not sure it was open to the public when I was an ex-pat.

Everyone is going to Italy, it would seem, and friends and family are asking for recommendations. In the process of assembling ideas to share, I've discovered that many of the places I love most are not represented on the blog. I think it's because I treat the blog in somewhat the same way I treat stories I'm editing: they should be well-written and complete. (Although, yes, there are blogposts, especially from the early years, that were written off the cuff and don't hold up too well).

But I digress. The Bardini Gardens: yet another treasure on the Oltrarno side of Florence. Palazzo Pitti, Forte Belvedere, Santo Spirito, the Boboli Gardens, Piazzale Michelangelo and this terraced marvel. When I lived in Florence, I would often take walks through the Oltrarno, in part because I lived for about a year in an apartment on Via dei Serragli, one of the main roads in that part of the city.

When you venture over to that part of the city, you are physically close to the chaos of the centro storico but spiritually very far. And these gardens are packed with tiny little paths that are so gorgeous, you may feel a heart attack of happiness coming on. How could a place so beautiful exist outside of heaven? (Simple: it's Italy.)

There's a nice gift shop here, too. I don't recall touring the actual villa on the property and I'm not sure you can. What I am sure of: this is a beautiful place to spend an afternoon.

Last but not least, I believe there is a combination ticket that gives you access to both the Boboli Gardens and this property but it would be hard to do both in one morning or afternoon (I think we spent most of our visit at Bardini and then dashed through Boboli exhausted and haphazardly). If you had the time, I suppose you could visit one in the morning, break for lunch and then return to the other in the afternoon (and if you did, I would of course recommend Trattoria Casalinga off of Piazza Santo Spirito for lunch, although there are several other old-school trattorias in the Oltrarno that would be worth your time).

So, Laurie, and other friends, please enjoy this post and hopefully you'll also enjoy this gorgeous Florentine garden!

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