Centro Botanico Moutan

History

Moutan Botanical Centre is a garden which boasts the richest and most complete collection of tree and herbaceous peonies in the world. It is a true corner of China in the heart of the Latium countryside, created from a twenty year-old passion for this flower.
More than 250,000 plants of 600 different varieties, belonging to almost all the known botanic species and most of the natural cultivated hybrids grow on the slopes of the hill.
The collection includes some very rare varieties which grow naturally in the most remote regions of the Asian continent. They have found an ideal habitat here and live together happily in an area covering 15 hectares. In the flowering season the peonies offer an incomparably fascinating, beautiful sight: thousands of corollas of all shapes and sizes display the whole chromatic scale from pure white to purple, almost black, through the most delicate and unusual shades of pink.
Paths are laid out to give full effect to the colors, scents and optical effects which different views offer in the centre in mid spring.
To begin to learn about these extraordinary plants, whose flowers are definitely the most beautiful and desirable in the world, is an introduction to an immense botanic, horticultural and cultural heritage of the Chinese people. With the objective of promoting knowledge, diffusion and protection of peonies everywhere, Moutan Botanical Centre has revealed to the western world three thousand years of patient and refined selection operated by cultivators and botanists of the Far East.

Travel notes

Entering on the Confidati family is an unforgettable experience, which has the taste and color of Tuscia, a land of historic gardens and medieval villages still intact.

In spring the sweet hills of the Centro Botanico Moutan are covered with thousands of colorful and fragrant peonies. This is undoubtedly the best period for a visit to the collection that boasts among other things: tree peonies of the Suffruticosa group, whose flowering can be admired throughout the month of April; Rocky peonies, Rockii species, which can be admired in the first two weeks of May and also for the whole month peeping herbaceous peonies, the last ones to bloom.

Impossible to resist the charm of this place and I challenge you not to buy a peony plant to be planted strictly in autumn or a product of the cosmetic line Pèonyspa, whose precious phytoextract, with extraordinary antioxidant efficacy, comes from the roots of the peonies of the Moutan Botanical Center.

To prolong the pleasure of the visit I recommend a stop at the Color Café, a garden restaurant with a country atmosphere, simple and cared for.

How to reach

By car
From the A1, exit Orte, and take SS Orte-Viterbo, toward Viterbo, up to the exit Vitorchiano. Then follow the indications to the centre. The Moutan Centre is at 500 meters.

On the train
From the Roma Nord Rail Station take the Rome - Viterbo line up to Vitorchiano stop. The Centre is at few steps on foot from the rail station.

On the bus
From Viterbo or Orte, the Cotral Line ensures connections to the Moutan Centre. Get off at Località Pallone bus stop and continue for a few steps on foot.