Florence, the Renaissance city
Entering the Boboli Gardens behind the Palazzo Pitti, initially the residence of Florentine banker Luca Pitti and bought in 1549 as the chief residence of the ruling families of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. The Boboli Gardens were laid out for Eleonora di Toledo, the wife of Cosimo I de' Medici, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who commissioned the designs from Niccolo Pericoli in 1549. The Egyptian obelisk, originally erected by Ramses II in Heliopolis, was placed at the centre of the amphitheatre.
Photo by Ludo Kuipers, Fri Nov 11, 1994