A naked fat guy on a turtle...

As we prepared to exit Boboli Gardens, we stumbled upon one of Boboli Garden's most whimsical statues...

A naked fat guy riding a turtle? Really? The sculpture dates from the 1500's (have you heard this before?) and apparently depicts the Court jester, (a dwarf) as Bacchus, the God of Wine - definitely one of the more humble Gods I would say. It's whimsical, odd, strangely engaging and hilarious as the same time.

And what is he saying? "Stop! That's close enough! What are you looking at?!"

 

Presumably today, such a commission would be considered pork barrel spending by a bunch of artsy-fartsy liberals. I'm glad the court of Cosimo I sprung for it though as it proved to be a giddy last memory from Boboli Gardens for us.

Now we headed back to our hotel, packed our things and prepared to take the fast train to Venice...