Gardens & Museum on the south side of the Arno East of the Ponte Vecchio in Florence.
This garden is on the side of a very steep hill overlooking the Arno just south of the Ponte alle Grazie.
There is a very steep winding gravel path from the bottom to the top. I had no problem negotiating this in my powerful electric wheelchair but it would be a challenge otherwise.
There are two accessible entrances. The one at the bottom is from the Via de Bardi 1 Rosso, from memory. You will have to check this.
The other entrances from Costa San Giorgio 4. This is about half a kilometre up an incredibly steep cobbled hill which begins down near the Ponte Vecchio. Again, get yourself a good power chair. The street gate is usually open but the back gate into the park is locked. The official entrance is further up the hill. I send my companion up there to alert them and someone come down to open the gate for us. I suppose you could ring ahead but I prefer the direct approach.
This brings you onto the garden path about two thirds of the way up. The park attendant was worried that my wheelchair would not handle the path but I surprised her pleasantly.
Accessibility summary from the website:
The earth and gravel surface is difficult and there are various level changes, but the garden can be visited with the assistance of a helper.
Wheelchair users can access the garden from a higher level via the second entrance at No. 4 Costa San Giorgio, by telephoning in advance or asking the staff at the Ticket Office to have someone open the gate.
The garden has great views and is quite peaceful. There is a cafe just near the upper entrance but it was closed both times I visited.
At the top of the hill there is the Bardini Museum, an old Palazzo. The surrounds are nice and the views are good but there is no wheelchair access to the Museum from there.
To get in to the museum in a wheelchair, you must notify the attendants and then head back to the entrance in Costa San Giorgio. Just near the inner gate there is a door with a small ramp. Once inside, there is a scary stair lifter. This will get you up into the museum. There are lifts inside to various areas and floors. There are some good views from the museum but a humble art collection by Italian standards.
Because my wheelchair is so powerful it is also very heavy, partly due to the heavy duty German long-range gel batteries. This means the stairlift struggled mightily and stopped continuously. For some reason it kept stopping half a metre from the bottom. After going up and down about three times we finally made it. I doubt if I would try it again although I have lost about 10 kg this year 🙂
By the way, you can have a good look around this garden online using Google Street view.
