Address: Via La Pira, 4
The name Bigallo comes from the Compagnia The botanical garden whose traditional name is the
"Giardino dei Semplici" has much earlier origins and a
more varied history. Cosimo I de' Medici himself promoted the
formation of a university botanic garden, and also did much
valuable work for the university garden at Pisa suggesting to
Cosimo that he might establish one in Florence. This took place
on 1st December 1545 and the Giardino dei Semplici thus became
the third Botanical Garden after Padua and Pisa. It was arranged
with flower beds and avenues and decorated with statues and
fountains by wellknown Florentine sculptors. It was soon of
national importance. Under the direction of Piero Antonio Micheli
and Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti it was updated and improved but
the creation of a further two gardens towards the end of the
century brought its level down and it was only a hundred years
later that it improved again.
Now measuring a little more than two hectares, almost all
belonging to the original layout it includes hot and temperate
houses for the tropical plants, medicinal plants and some superb
examples of sequoia trees, cedars and oaks from the early
nineteenth century.
