How can you define a folly? Perhaps it simply defines itself, creating a category of its own in the world of gardens. It is a creative and eccentric expression, which more than any other form leads us to reflect, makes us dream and places us in an imaginative dimension, sometimes esoteric and always surprising. A folly is never a purely aesthetic expression, it requires our commitment to be able to decipher the path and the messages contained in it, and hence the need for this conference organized with the Municipality of Lavis, which helps us to better understand four follies that are part of the Grandi Giardini Italiani and Gardens of Switzerland networks: the Giardino Bortolotti known as dei Ciucioi (Lavis, Trento), the Sacro Bosco di Bomarzo (Bomarzo, Viterbo), La Scarzuola (Montegabbione, Terni) and Parco Scherrer (Morcote, Switzerland).
Professor Antonio Rocca, already author of many researches and writings on Bomarzo and La Scarzuola, takes us to know the secrets of two of the most famous follies in Italy, while the mayor of Lavis, architect Andrea Brugnara, introduces us to the Bortolotti Garden called dei Ciucioi, recently restored thanks to European Union PNRR funds. We wanted to broaden our horizons and invite the architect Caterina Hörtig, municipal councilor in Morcote, and the architect Sophie Agata Ambroise, in charge of the restoration of the park in the Canton of Ticino, to illustrate Scherrer's fascinating folly. I thank councilor Franco Castellan for having collaborated with enthusiasm in the creation of this conference, intended primarily to offer the citizens of Lavis a moment of in-depth study on their most precious cultural asset, namely the Bortolotti Garden known as dei Ciucioi.
The proceedings of the conference “The prince, the architect, the merchant and the entrepreneur.
Follies: praise of eccentric gardens” are published by Grandi Giardini Italiani in the Garden Books series. This is a document that will commemorate the discussion that took place in Lavis on a topic that, I hope, can be explored further.
Judith Wade
Founder and CEO of Grandi Giardini Italiani, Gardens of Switzerland and Great Gardens of the World