Day 10 - Museum, Garden & Wine
Giardini Bardini in Florence
July 1, 2023: Today was a mix of activities. We found out that with our Uffizi ticket from earlier in the week, we could get free admission to the National Archaeology Museum near the Accademia Gallery, so we decided to work it into our schedule. A bit of history about the Archaeological Museum. Opened up in 1818, by King Victor Emmanuel II, the Archaeological Museum housed Roman and Etruscan remains. As the collection grew the museum was moved to its actual location at the Piazza Santissima Annunziata in the year of 1880. The museum was born from the personal collections of the Medici and the Lorraine families. It had quite an extensive collection of Egyptian items. We were not as impressed in this museum as the others we have visited, but it was worth the time.
Next stop was the Giardino Bardino (Bardini Gardens). Tracing its history back to medieval times, the Bardini Garden belonged to a series of wealthy families. Originally constructed for agricultural purposes, it was transformed over the course of the centuries into a splendid Italianate garden. In the beginning of the 1900’s it was used by Stefano Bardini as an impressive setting to entertain his well-to-do clientele. Undoubtedly, the most scenic part of the garden remains the great Baroque staircase and the wisteria tunnel, both of which lead to the Kaffeehaus and restaurant. The staircase built in the seventeenth century was enriched with statues and fountains at the end of the eighteenth century by Giulio Mozzi. From the panoramic terrace, in front of the restaurant, there is a spectacular view of the city. We had lunch at the coffee house, which was delicious!
After our walk through the garden, we headed back to our apartment for some down time. In the early evening we headed back to the Enoteca Obsequium Wine Bar where we had done some wine tasting earlier in the trip. We enjoyed a charcuterie board while doing another wine tasting. We had the same host and he remembered our names! It was such a fund experience. We felt like locals :)
JImm’s rating for today: ****