Iris Garden of Italy

This guide to Florence's Iris Garden follows the Premio Firenze, a flower contest running since 1954 where growers from five continents send iris rhizomes to be judged over three years against one target: the red of Florence's own coat of arms. It traces the garden back to two Florentine women, Flaminia Specht and Nita Stross Radicati, who talked the city into lending them a hillside of old olive terraces below Piazzale Michelangelo, and to architect Giuliano Zetti's 1957 design.