These seven miles wave almost all more or less up hill, and when the high ground on which the park is situated has been reached, there is a magnificent view over the Val d'Arno, its thousand villas, and Florence, with its circle of surrounding hills.
There was once a grand ducal residence there, which was famous in the later Medicean days for the multiplicity and ingenuity of its water-works.

All kinds of surprises, picturesque and grotesque effects, and practical jokes, had been prepared by the ingenious, but somewhat childish skill of the architect.

Turning the handle of a door would produce a shower-bath, sofas would become suddenly boats surrounded by water, and such like more or less disagreeable surprises to visitors, who were new to the specialties of the place.

But all this practical joking was at length fatal to the scene of it.

The pipes and conduits got out of order, and eventually so ruined the edifice that it had to be taken down, and has never been replaced.
But the principal object of attraction--besides the view, the charming green turf for dining on, the facility for getting hot water, plates, glasses, &c., from a gardeners house, and a large hall in the same, good for dancing--was the singular colossal figure, representing "The Apennine," said to have been designed by Michael Angelo.