Giardino Torrigiani, Florence

Giardino Torrigiani is a vast private garden attached to the Casino Torrigiani al Campuccio, within Florence’s historic centre. Its paths lead through a romantic park of about ten hectares, where a slender tower gives the setting its most striking silhouette. The tower, designed by Gaetano Baccani and raised in 1824, reaches 22 metres; its three levels carry allusions to stages of Masonic initiation, while its practical roles included an astronomical observatory, a library, and a collection of instruments and weapons.

Look toward the tower itself: its height is made even more imposing by the artificial mound beneath it, and an open terrace crowns the structure for watching the sky. The garden’s story also reaches back to botanical study. In 1716, Pier Antonio Micheli and other botanists cultivated recently introduced plants here, and Pietro Torrigiani later deepened that interest in rare species.

The present route includes a circular flower bed with Pio Fedi’s sculpture of Seneca beside the young Pietro Torrigiani, followed by the Merlin grotto, an amphitheatre, a gymnasium, a grove, and a hermitage. In the late nineteenth century, the broad lawn even hosted private football practices and matches, connected with the Florence Football Club founded through Pietro Torrigiani.