Pitti and the Boboli garden
A rusticated palace front, a terraced garden climbing the hill, and the view from the Belvedere edge. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Piazza de' Pitti
Start in the sloping square facing the palace. The point is the front itself — a vast wall of rough-hewn stone the Medici kept extending until it dwarfed everything around it. Sit on the slope, take it whole, and decide whether you're going inside the galleries or straight up the hill. Either is a fine walk.

2. Palazzo Pitti courtyard
Walk through the entrance into Ammannati's courtyard, the cool stone yard that opens onto the garden behind. Even without a museum ticket you can feel the scale shift here from city to country estate. The Boboli entrance is at the back.

3. Boboli amphitheatre
Just above the palace, the grass amphitheatre cut into the hillside with an Egyptian obelisk and a Roman basin at its centre. Climb the steps at the back and turn around — the palace below, the city beyond. The garden is ticketed; pay it, and give yourself an hour at least.

4. Viottolone cypress avenue
The long straight avenue of old cypresses running downhill through the garden's southern half — broad, shaded, and usually near-empty even when the amphitheatre is busy. Walk it slowly; this is the bit people skip and the bit worth coming for.

5. Forte di Belvedere edge
The garden's high northeast corner brushes up against the star-shaped fort on the hilltop. You don't need to enter the fort to take the edge — the terrace here gives one of the great over-the-rooftops views of Florence. Catch your breath and look.

6. Ponte Vecchio
Come back down the hill and out toward the river, finishing at the old bridge where the Oltrarno meets the centre. After the garden's quiet, the bustle of the bridge is a deliberate contrast. Cross into town, or catch the minibus along the embankment.

Pitti and the Boboli garden