Giardino Bardini

This guide to Giardino Bardini in Florence follows Stefano Bardini, an antiques dealer known as the prince of the trade, who bought this hillside garden in 1913 not to relax in but to display the doorways, fountains and statues he salvaged from churches and palaces being demolished across the city. It traces how he tore out medieval terraces to build a grand staircase and belvedere, and what happened to the garden after his son Ugo died and no one could agree who owned it. Listen while looking up toward the wisteria tunnel overhead.