The city balcony
[
Maddalena Delli]
The Fortress of Belvedere, lying at the back of the Boboli Gardens, is considered the most beautiful balcony overlooking Florence - lesser known but certainly more impressively situated than the far more popular Piazzale Michelangelo. This fortress, built at the end of the 16th c. at the wish of grand duke Ferdinando I, was designed by Bernando Buontalenti to fit into the overall defensive system of Florence as a bastion in the shape of a six-pointed star (providing four fortified fronts) both against attacks from without and to provide a stronghold for the members of the Medici family to retreat to in case of uprisings within the city. The portal cut into the eastern side leads up a ramp to the upper level of the embankments, now partly covered with grass. From here you can see the inside part of the bastion dominating the city. If you walk along the ramparts of the perimeter, from the various natural terraces you can enjoy a magnificent close-up view of Florence, of its valley and of the surroundings hills. At the center of the fortress is the earlier
Palazzina di Belvedere, built in 1560-70 to plans attributed to Bartolomeo Ammannati and which long guarded the Medici treasure in a secret well. Forte Belvedere belonged to the army until 1951 and later opened to the public after massive renovations. Until 1998 the Fortress was used for important art exhibitions, most notably the ones devoted to the sculpture of Giň Pomodoro, Henry Moore
and Franco Paladino.
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