"Free Sunday" in Florence

In Italy, access to most public museums and monuments is free on the first Sunday of each month. When you add the de facto "long weekend", we were expecting it to be rather crazy with the crowds in Florence. Our plan for the day was to visit the Museo del Giardino di Boboli...otherwise known as the Boboli Gardens...on the basis that there are a big open space and the crowds wouldn't be too bad.

The day promised to be fine and sunny so after breakfast we set off for the gardens...which are part of the Palazzo Pitti (or Pitti Palace). We arrived at the palace and were surprised to discover that the expected queues were non-existent. This was too good an opportunity to pass up so we collected our free tickets and went in. We spent the morning wandering through the amazing palace with all of its ancient art works. While we were there we also looked through the costume museum and the "modern art" gallery...where "modern" was anything completed in the 18th and 19th centuries.

After a light lunch, we then wandered through the Boboli Gardens on what was now becoming a rather warm afternoon. A little footsore and tired, we left the gardens and made our way back to our hotel for a rest before dinner.