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The Boboli Gardens in Florence were the playground of the <a class="zem_slink" title="House of Medici" rel="wikipedia" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Medici">Medici family</a>, a glorious spot behind the grim rusticated monster where they lived, the Pitti Palace. Today you can wander around this landscaped hill and try to imagine how the de facto monarchs of the city lived.

One of the most fascinating features are the four grottoes built into the hill and decorated in the most extraordinary fashion. What did they <em>do</em> in the grottoes? No one seems to know really. The biggest, above, often called the Buontalenti Grotto or the Grotta Grande, is quite sizable, two linked caves in effect, decorated with stalactites and stalagmites, classical statuary and bizarre creations on the walls.

Whenever I've been to the Boboli Gardens before the place has been locked, like the other three grottoes, and I had to peer through the railings. But on Sunday a nice chap turned up with a key and let a few of us inside.

Below are the photos (not great but then I'm not a great photographer and this is not an easy place to shoot). There are frescoes of real and fantastic animals, Arcadian landscapes with nymphs and shepherds and, in the second room a beautiful statue of Venus in the middle of a fountain, with some evil-looking fauns clinging to the edge.

Quite a place. Worth a visit if you can get inside.

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