Monday 18 August 2008

Villa Demidoff Park

We visited the Villa Demidoff Park on the weekend for a wonderful, lazy picnic lunch. Here is some information about the park:

The Villa di Pratolino (Villa Demidoff di Pratolino) is a patrician villa in Tuscany, Italy, 12 km north of Florence. It was built by the solitary Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany in part to please his Venetian mistress, the celebrated Bianca Capello. The designer of villa and gardens was his court architect- designer- mechanician- engineer Bernardo Buontalenti, who completed it in a single campaign that lasted from 1569 to 1581; it was finished enough to provide the setting for Francesco's public wedding to Bianca Cappello in 1579. In its time it was a spendid example of the Mannerist garden.

So, now you know! In the middle of the park is an incredible statue - The Appennine Colossus by Giambologna. It is about 10 meters high and as Ana said is one "big man"! Pics below:






The weather has become a bit more manageable - a very easy 33 degrees today. And I swear the gods are reading my blog - the day after my last posting, boasting that we had not had rain for 60 days or so, it bucketed the entire day accompanied by some spectacular thunder and lightening. The temperature dropped that evening to 18 and for the first time, our shutters stayed closed during the night. But the next day, the sun was out and I was happy to see it. Despite the fact that the continuous heat can be draining, I will miss it once it turns colder. How will we last in England?

Speaking of which, Mathew and I are off on Wednesday for 10 days in the UK - most of the time to be spent on my parents' canal boat. We are canaling from Milton Keynes (north of London) down through the Thames, past the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye etc, before mooring outside my sister, Annette's house in Hampton. Should be fun though I've never been on a canal boat before and am a bit concerned about the space (or lack thereof). However, there are apparently, enough pubs along the way to keep me amused!

No email or internet access while we are there so I'll only be able to update the blog once we are home again on the 03rd September.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear you are still enjoying it all. Have a great time with Stuart and Anne. Have a Thorntons toffee for us....
Wish we there to enjoy it all with you.
Love to all the family.