Three Grottoes in the Boboli Gardens, Florence

The Boboli Gardens have several grottoes or man-made caves, besides the well-known Buontalenti Grotto, which I will cover in another posting. Of varying sizes, they are usually sculpted from stone to resemble natural stalactites, with elaborate ceilings decorated with shells and stone carvings.

The Annalena or  Adam and Eve Grotto is named after the statues by Michelangelo Naccharino. The grotto was created by Giuseppe Cacialli in 1817, making it the newest grotto in the Boboli.

The Moses Grotto, so called because the statue of Moses in the photo below (the porphyry statue that is higher than the others), was created by Raphael Curradi. The sculpture of Moses, however, was the work of Raphael Curradi and Cosimo Salvestrini.

Ceiling of the Moses Grotto:

The Grotto of Madama, also called the Grotto of Goats, was built by Buontalenti in 1570 to honour Joan of Austria, wife of Francesco I de’ Medici. The goat was one of the emblems of Cosimo I de Medici.