Giardino dell'Orticultura - Orti del Parnaso
In 1852, the Georgofili Academy has favored the birth of the Tuscan Society of Horticulture. After three years of work, the Company realized a dibble, a vineyard and a apple orchard, in addition to the system of rare ornamental plants. In 1880, the Italian Horticultural Federation organized the first National Exhibition in Florence, while in 1911, the Garden hosted a major exhibition of flowers to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Unification of Italy, bringing significant changes for this occasion: the bridge over the railway, the magnification of the driveway, the decoration of the gate with banners and the construction of the Bondi Lodge, operates by Manufacture of Signa. The Company decided to complete the Tuscan Garden with a tepidarium (greenhouse in iron and glass), unprecedented in Italy. The task was entrusted to Giacomo Roster and realized by Officine Michelucci of Pistoia, with cast iron columns from Lorenzetti foundry. Tepidarium, a rectangular base, was heated by stoves and adorned with two tanks with niches decorated with spongy rocks, tribute to the Mannerist work by Francesco Marini. In 1930, the Garden was bought by the City, who used it as public Garden, and restored the Rosten Tepidario, seriously abandoned. By a walkway, over the railway, it leads to the top of the Garden, called "Parnassus Gardens": a small green area located on a scenic elevation, where stands a fountain shaped like a snake, that winds on the steps. In this Garden are some scenes of the film "My friends - Act II", by Mario Monicelli, and "Under a lucky star", by Carlo Verdone.
