Perfect for a day trip from Florence is the small town of Cavriglia which has one of the world’s most beautiful rose gardens.
Hosting 7000 varieties of roses is the Roseto Carla Fineschi, created by Dr Gianfrance Fineschi as a project that started in 1963.
It is one of the leading private rose collections in the world where each rose is labeled with its botanical name, date of introduction into Europe, and its hybridizer (when appropriate).
The rose garden was the fruit of Fineschi’s labour and that of his gardener, Vittorio Carraese, and revived some species that were thought to be extinct before Fineschi rediscovered them.
The Italian garden has also been the source of many roses for other, more famous, gardens, including that of the recreation of Empress Josephine’s rose garden at the Chateau de Malmaison.
The garden is open to visitors from May 1st to June 30th every year.
See the Cavriglia site for more details on the area.