One of the city’s historic gardens, Villa Bardini stands on a hill in the Oltrarno area from where you can enjoy a spectacular view of the city. Entering this green park, you get a true taste of the nineteenth-century with its fascinating features, many panoramic points, and curiosities that give it a fairytale feel. 

Open until sunset every day, all year round, here you’ll find a vast number of botanical varieties including 350 species of roses with fountains featuring water lilies adding to the allure. Ten bronze sculptures and two plaster casts by the Belgian artist Jean-Michel Folon give art lovers something to marvel at also in this garden that frames the city sublimely, located just under Piazzale Michelangelo.

Dating to the late fifteenth century, this splendid spot is on the grounds that belonged to Bernardo Rucellai and his wife Nannina dè Medici, sister of Lorenzo the Magnificent. Having become a highly important cultural centre, it was the site for meetings of the Platonic Academy of Florence that included well-known names such as Niccolò Machiavelli and Jacopo Nardi.

A park of many surprises, while strolling the space you’ll find a library, flower-lined avenues, benches, and even a stream that flows through the belly of a dragon. In particular, the large nineteenth-century greenhouse is a mesmerizing sight when lit up in the evening.

Surrounding Villa Stibbert, this fascinating park is home to one of the most famous Florentine museums of the same name. With its temples, caves, water features and English style, it’s one of the few examples of an eclectic nineteenth-century park that has remained intact in Florence, with 56 species including lime trees, pines, holm oaks, horse chestnuts, palms and cypresses. Right beside it you’ll find the Baden Powell Garden, for further natural explorations. 

It doesn’t end here! For more ideas see Six secret (and not secret) gardens of Florence