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Walking through the narrow streets of Florence helps explain the traditional reputation of Italian drivers. The streets are enough to drive anyone insane who has to learn to drive them 
.
We spent much of the day exploring the Boboli Gardens.
The very first sculpture we encountered caused me to do a double take after I photographed it.
Notice the third figure in the lower left. It’s a small woman…who is actually a snake, judging by the tail. Interesting how the sculptor, a guy, characterized the entity that led humans to be exiled from the Garden of Eden as a human female.
Of course, the entire Adam & Eve story gives women a bum rap, because it was Eve who convinced Adam to eat that infamous apple. Except that ignores his own agency in his eventual exile.
Always convenient to have someone to shift responsibility to, isn’t it?
The Gardens were created initially by the Medicis to showcase their wealth and power. It’s filled with fountains and sculptures.
These characters turned out to be much weirder than I initially thought they were. And I started out thinking they were pretty weird to begin with.
They looked to me like ferocious, mythological men (the beard was a dead give away…or so I thought). But they’re not — they’re harpies. Which means they’re mythological women. But with beards.
In addition to all the statues the gardens contain the odd turtle or two.
One thing about monumental figures in the middle of ponds is that you have to decide which direction gets the butt. I wonder how that was done? Knowing what I do about the Medicis, I’m willing to bet the butt axis was picked to embarrass or insult someone.
This picture, of the main drag connecting the north and south ends of the Boboli Gardens, is interesting for what it doesn’t contain.
The original photo had a woman standing just behind Barbara, to the right of her.
She’s not there in the final image because I used Photoshop’s new generative AI feature to remove her. The takeaway lesson is Never Trust a Photograph Unless You Know It’s Entire Provenance .
When we exited the Boboli Gardens we went through the Palazzo Pitti (the Pitti Palace). It’s a museum in its own right which we plan on visiting next week while it’s raining.
Today we enjoyed a nice lunch there.
Walking back to our hotel from the Boboli Gardens we went past this old building, which sported some very intricate paintings on its surface.
Late in the day we walked over to Basilica di Santa Maria Novella. It was closing by the time we got there, but a peek inside convinced us it was worth returning to when it was open.
We were also able to score some fabulous gelato near the Basilica! After which we found a nice restaurant where we had a casual dinner of very tasty fresh pasta.
You should always try to eat dessert first. Because you never know how long you’ll be alive .
