Property of Bernardo Rucellai, the garden was the seat for the meetings of literary men, humanists, philosophers and historians (like Machiavelli, Buondelmonti, Jacopo da Diacceto and Luigi Alemanni). The garden was bought at the end of the 16th century by Francesco I de' Medici for his lover Bianca Cappello and was transformed into a place for parties and practical jokes.
Giovan Carlo I de' Medici was the owner in the middle of the 17th century and the garden was newly designed by Alfonso Parigi and Ferdinando Tacca. Francesco Ridolfi bought it in 1670 and gave the task to enlarge it to Pier Francesco Silvani.
At the beginning of the 19th century Giuseppe Stiozzi Ridolfi asked Luigi de Cambrai Digny to design an English style park and a "Romanticism" style garden was created. In the garden there is the statue of Polifemo by Antonio Novelli, Giambologna's pupil, in plastered masonry.
Orti Oricellari
Via degli Orti Oricellari, 9, 50123 Firenze FI, Italia