Explore Cascine Park with us

Cascine Park is the green heart of the city, and being only a few steps far from the city center, it’s the ideal place to go for a walk or for a bicycle ride.

It’s Florence’s largest park, measuring 160 hectares, 35 of which are covered by woods. It extends along the river bank, from Porta al Prato until the conjunction between river Arno and torrent Mugnone.

The park was commissioned by the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo I de' Medici, as a private agricultural estate and hunting reserve.

The name "Cascine" comes from the word "cascio," which refers to a place used for producing milk and cheese (cacio), hence the name "Cascine."

The Medici also introduced rare botanical species into the park, which constituted a subject of study and experimentation, and which are partly still present today.

When the Lorraine family inherited the Grand Duchy, the park took on an identity more focused on leisure, but it also retained a productive aspect.

Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo, commissioned the renovation project to architect Giuseppe Manetti, who foreshadowed the English landscape garden. 

At the end of the 18th century, Cascine park was enriched with monuments, such as the Palazzina Reale, now the seat of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, the Grand Ducal Stables, seat of PARC, the Quercione drinking trough, known as the Fountain of Boccacce, the pyramid which was used as an ice-house, and more architectural details.

In addition to the Boccacce Fountain, there is also the Narcissus Fountain, where we can read an inscription dedicated to the Romantic English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.

In the western area of the beautiful historical and natural complex, there is also an amphitheater, venue of shows and concerts, while in the eastern area, by Vittorio Veneto square, there is Pavoniere swimming pool, named after two “pavoniere” (peacock cages) shaped like neoclassical temples. 

At the end of the Cascine Park stands an Oriental-style and eccentric funerary monument that testifies to the short and tragic life story of a visitor from distant India. In 1870, the young Indian prince Rajaram Chuttraputti of Kolhapur visited Florence. Rajaram Chuttraputti stayed at the Grand Hotel in Piazza Ognissanti, and it was in his luxurious hotel room that he died suddenly, likely because of a severe lung infection. He was only 21 years old.

To respect the Hindu religious tradition, the body of the Maharaja was cremated at the confluence of the Arno and Mugnone rivers. 

The park became public in the early nineteenth century and later came under the ownership of the Municipality of Florence.