Sunday, May 25, 2008

Boboli Grotto – Grande Grotto Inside Scoop

Boboli Gardens - Grotto Grande Room 1 Boboli Gardens - Grotto Grande Wall Detail
Boboli Gardens - Vincenzo de Rossi - Paris and Helen Boboli Gardens - Giambologna Bathing Venus Boboli Gardens Grotto
By chance we learned that the Grande Grotto (or Grotto del Buontalenti) is now open in the Boboli Gardens – as in you can enter the grotto. At the top of the hour it is open for 15 minutes or so. (It might be wiser to not expect it to be open at lunch time….). We went around 4 pm and it was fun to walk in. We asked the guard what the plans were for water, because what’s a grotto without water? He said that there are plans to get the water running but first attempts revealed that there was something underneath the grotto (a nearby store’s storage we think) that was getting water damage after a couple of days. So, they have to address that issue first.

The grotto was constructed in the last half of the 1500s and has three rooms. In the main room there are copies of Michelangelo’s prisoners. In the second room there is the sculpture by Vincenzo de Rossi, Paris and Helen and in the third room there is a sculpture by Giambologna, Bathing Venus.

No comments:

Post a Comment

All comments go through a moderation process. Even though it may not look like the comment was accepted, it probably was. Check back in a day if you asked a question. Thanks!