Giardino Bardini — Attraction in Florence

I need to say my 1 star isn’t for the gardens themselves- they are very beautiful, but for the terrible and rude staff. We arrived and bought tickets at 5:20pm. The lady who sold us our tickets told us it’s better to have longer in the garden and that they close at 6:30pm, we assured her we don’t need to see everything and an hour is fine with us. Once inside and through security I looked for a bathroom and couldn’t see any except for an access bathroom. There were barely any people about and no line so I approached it and was told by a staff member sitting next to the toilet that I couldn’t use it and explained where the other toilets were (invisible disabilities exist and there was no one around but anyway). The bathrooms were down several flights of stairs and down a long hallway. Meanwhile my partner asked at the cafe if he could fill his empty water bottle up with tap water, they told him no. Ok, we think, a strange start to the experience but time to go in (at this point it’s 5:35pm). We look everywhere for the entry and realise all the doors have been closed? A sign says that last entry is an hour before they close, thankfully a staff member lets us in after we explain we had just bought our tickets but he lets us through a different way- we get the impression this is not something he should be doing but was being kind. As we walk through the beautiful gardens it becomes clear that many areas have been locked or blocked off, presumably to cordon people out. At 6pm speakers start blaring in Italian and English saying the gardens are closing and to make our way to an exit. The blaring DID NOT STOP the entire time, which really ruined the tranquility of the experience! Staff are stationed throughout insisting we make our way to the exit and forbidding us to go in certain directions even though the park didn’t close for another 30 minutes and at this point we were only 5-10 minutes from the exit. As we walk we stop and take some photos, staff begin yelling at us and no joke using a WHISTLE to hurry us along! At one point we were confused thinking perhaps the park closed at 6 instead of 6:30- nope, it’s definitely 6:30, they were just being jerks. We ended up at the exit gate at 6:23 and decided to take some more pictures; one staff member came up to us and was like “come on guys we really need you to leave”. We ended up leaving the exit gate at 6:25pm, and could hear the staff bitching about us in Italian as we walked away. I never give bad reviews like this and neither me nor my partner are the type to complain, especially not about service staff as we have both worked with the general public for years and understand how hard it can be, but being made to feel like criminals when we didn’t do anything wrong was really not nice. I really hope they can provide some training for these staff, or hey maybe even consider keeping the park...

Very disappointed as the hours posted online are NOT accurate.

We came on a Thursday at 18:50 PM and were turned away as they claimed they were then closed. The woman had let in the Italian family of 5 in front of us, and wouldn’t let us two in.

On their site it specifically said that they were open until 20:00 with admission until 19:00.

We so desperately wished to see the gardens again that we stayed an extra day in Florence just to be able to see it, and we planned to go at 18:30 to be early and see the city with a setting sun hue. When we arrived at the Pa Parco Bardini 1 entrance the door was closed with a sign that stated their regular hours of (ending at 19:00). We then trekked up the hill to see if there was another entrance, and were thrilled to find the second one!

But then, when we entered, a very annoyed woman told us that the gardens were closed and proceeded to shush us out. She then pointed at a VERY small sign INSIDE that said they closed entry at 17:00.

We are so sad to be leaving the city of Florence without any memories of the beautiful Giardino Bardini.

I hate to write bad reviews, but the lack of information is simply unacceptable. Please please please update your hours if you are going to...

The Giardino Bardini is an Italian Renaissance garden of the Villa Bardini in the hilly part of Oltrarno, offering fine views of Florence, Italy. Opened only recently to the public, it is one of Florence's well kept secrets. The garden is composed of three separate areas, each created in a different time period, which adds to the architectural and agricultural diversity. The park's center contains the grand staircase that was constructed in the 17th century. On one side of the staircase you can find the Anglo-Chinese garden created in the 19th century. The other side of the staircase hosts the garden's agricultural park. The garden boasts many statues and panoramic views over the city. Wildlife in the garden includes rock pigeons, blackbirds and woodpigeons.

Access is gained via the Via de' Bardi, just over the road from the Museo Bardini in the Oltrarno district of the city, although the gardens exit onto the Costa di San Giorgio, onto which the Forte di Belevedere and the Giardino di Boboli...