Three parks to discover
A green itinerary through three public parks in the nearby of Piazza della Libertà, a few steps from the historic centre of Florence:Horticultural Garden, Villa Fabbricotti Park and Stibbert Museum Park.
Giardino dell'Orticoltura
The Horticultural Garden has three different entrances, the monumental one is in via Vittorio Emanuele II. This gate introduces us to the many features of this park, such as lawns, high-trunk trees, flowerbeds, a library (belonging to the Municipality) and a very popular children’s playground.
Historical evidences that testify the greatness of this place are the loggia and the majestic glass and iron Tepidarium by Giacomo Roster, a unique example in Tuscany. From the Tepidarium, a small path leads us to the upper part of the garden, the so called Orti del Parnaso (Garden of Parnassus), overlooking the city of Florence; in this section of the garden is located the snake-fountain made of various materials, meandering along the slope of the garden.
Villa Fabbricotti
Out of the garden, we are in via Trento, and through via Trieste, we get down along via Vittorio Emanuele II where we can see another monumental entrance and an impressive staircase: it is Villa Fabbricotti. A small building transformed into a villa in the second half of the nineteenth century, now housing offices. The romantic park is shaded by centuries-old trees and was designed according to the unevenness of the Montughi hill. Queen Victoria of England was a vip host of this villa between March and April 1894: a marble plaque commemorates this event.
Stibbert Park
Through a small gate, let’s enter now in the Baden Powell Garden, another pleasant public park; once it was Villa Stibbert’s orchard and still today many fruit trees make it beautiful in spring when they fill up with delicate little flowers in white and pink.
We leave this garden and another monumental gate opens to the park of Villa Stibbert, residence of Frederick Stibbert, the famous Anglo-Florentine art collector. The villa is a beautiful museum with admission fee, but the romantic park is free of charge. It is a very shady park, dotted with artistic curiosities as statues, temples and the most exotic constructions: an Egyptian temple surrounded by a small lake with ducks. This was the oriental taste of the time and for us a source of wonder and a pleasant walk.
Comune di Firenze
The places
Stages
Giardino dell'Orticoltura
In 1854 the "Società Toscana d'Orticultura" (Tuscan Society of Horticulture) was constituted. In the second half of the 19th century the garden got larger and Giacomo Roster designed the big tepidarium, inaugurated in 1880. The little loggia "Bondi" by the architect Castellucci was realized in 1911.
The Municipality of Florence bought the garden in 1930 and designated the area as a public garden. In 1990 the "snake" was completed with decorations of different materials following the project of Marco Dezzi Bardeschi.
Inside the garden there is also a playground for children.
Parco di Villa Fabbricotti
In 1864, Giuseppe Fabbricotti bought “Lo Strozzino” property and, in the same year, he commissioned architect Vincenzo Micheli to turn the old hunting lodge into a luxurious residence. None of the documents known indicates the name of the author of the garden, which may be attributed to Giuseppe Poggi.
Park of Stibbert Museum
The park of the Stibbert Museum surrounds the building where Frederick Stibbert (1838-1906) lived and collected his precious items.
Outside the villa there was a plain park which was completely refurbished into a romantic park the English way.
in the park you can find temples, grottoes, staues and water features. In particular there is an ellenistic round temple with a small, maiolica dome, and the very peculiar egyptian temple, which stands on the banks of a small pond.
The temple witnesses the taste of Stibbert for the East and the ancient civilizations.
The park lies on the Montughi hill and it is surrounded by other public green areas.
