Pitti Palace (Palazzo Pitti) & Boboli Gardens, Florence

There are 140 rooms within the Pitti Palace, housing a number of important museums and galleries.

Today the Palace is divided into four museums: the Treasury of the Grand Dukes on the ground floor, the Palatine Gallery and the Royal and Imperial Apartments on the first floor, the Modern Art Gallery and the Museum of Costume and Fashion on the second floor.

The Palatine Gallery is the main museum for most within the Pitti Palace holding an impressive collection of Renaissance masterpieces, including works by artists Raphael, Titian and Rubens.

Each room is named by the theme of the pictures displayed or the artists represented.

Visitors can also tour the sumptuous Royal Apartments, Porcelain Museum, Carriage Museum and Costume Gallery. The palace houses a Modern Art Gallery, highlighting Italian painters from the 18th to early-20th centuries.

Directly behind Pitti Palace are the Boboli Gardens that the Medici family established, creating the Italian garden style that would become a model for many European courts.

The Boboli Gardens with its formal layout is often referred to as an outdoor museum, reflecting just how much there is to see in a landscape populated by ancient and Renaissance statues, fountains and buildings, and of course the garden plants and trees are not bad either.

Highlights include the Fountain of Neptune and the Isolotto, an oval shaped island in a tree enclosed pond with statues populating it.

Tickets can be bought in conjunction with tickets for Pitti Palace.

Location

The location of the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens is very central within the city centre of Florence, but on the south side of the river, the opposite side of the river from the Duomo, the Accademia and Uffizi Galleries and almost everything else worthwhile in Florence.

Whilst there is a local bus service the vast majority will walk, it's that close it's probably a lot quicker too.

It's very simple, just walk across the Ponte Vecchio, another major Florence icon and keep going straight up the road opposite. The Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens are only about 3 minutes' walk up the road on the left.

The Uffizi Gallery is just around the corner from the northern end of Ponte Vecchio and in fact there is a covered walkway called the Vasari Corridor connecting the Uffizi and Pitti Palace that went above the shops on Ponte Vecchio. The Vasari Corridor is still there, although not open to the public, but there are tours that allow access.

Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens opening and tickets

Pitti Palace

Open all year but closed closed Mondays.

The Palace is open 08.15am - 6.50pm.

Ticket prices are cheaper in the winter months November to February.

You can buy tickets just for the Pitti Palace or combination tickets that include the Uffizi Gallery and Boboli Gardens.

Boboli Gardens

Open all year every day.

The gardens open at 08.15 am and shut at different times according to season from late afternoon to early evening.

Ticket prices are cheaper in the winter months November to February.

You can buy tickets just for the Pitti Palace or combination tickets that include the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens.