26 January 2023
Grandi Giardini Italiani continues to grow
The year 2023 sees further growth for Grandi Giardini Italiani, the network of Italy's most beautiful gardens, with four botanical masterpieces joining the circuit, each bearing a different historical, artistic and botanical heritage: Horti - Almo Collegio Borromeo (Pavia), the Giardino Bortolotti (Lavis, TN), the Giardino di Ninfa (Cisterna di Latina, LT) and Villa Schuler (Taormina, ME).
Let's discover them together.
The Almo Collegio Borromeo was founded in Pavia in 1561 by Cardinal Carlo Borromeo, of the illustrious aristocratic Borromeo family, to provide an opportunity for boys from the less affluent social classes to study.
Passing through the palace's magnificent courtyard designed by Pellegrino Tibaldi one discovers the Horti, a garden designed in a thoroughly contemporary key and housing works of art of the calibre of Arnaldo Pomodoro, Gianfranco Pardi, Nicola Carrino, Luigi Mainolfi, Mauro Staccioli and Salvatore Cuschera.
The current Rector, Alberto Lolli, animated by the conviction that beauty has a redeeming and pedagogical force, has succeeded in creating a garden in the city centre that you would not expect, which is characterised as a place of social inclusion open to the students of the College, citizens and visitors of all ages.
The gardens of Trentino Alto Adige are enriched by the Giardino Bortolotti in Lavis, in the province of Trento. The complex bears the name of its creator, Tommaso Bortolotti (Lavis, 1796-1872), who devoted every resource to the realisation of his visionary project.
The construction, which began in the 1830s, led him to create a terraced garden in Lavis, Trentino. An almost impossible feat that led him to design an extraordinary vertical landscape resting on the living porphyry of a medieval quarry. Also known as the ''Giardino dei Ciucioi'', it is home to over 2000 plants.
Now owned by the Municipality of Lavis this 'folly' enjoys recent restoration and renewed attention to the collection of new plants, to the delight of citizens and visitors alike.
Travelling along the boot from North to South, one arrives in the fairy-tale Giardino di Ninfa.
Travelling the boot from North to South, one arrives at the fairy-tale Giardino di Ninfa in Cisterna di Latina, in the province of Latina. The story of the creation of the Giardino di Ninfa is intertwined with that of three women: Ada Bootle Wilbraham, wife of Onorato Caetani, Margherite Chapin, wife of Roffredo Caetani, and their daughter Lelia.
The work began in 1920 with Gelasio Caetani who made a ruined medieval estate his summer residence, reorganised the water system and harnessed the power of the waters to create evocative waterways formed by the succession of small lakes, waterfalls and streams that meander through the vegetation. Compared to his English mother, Ada Bootle Wilbraham, he planted a large number of essences.
When he died in 1934, the Garden was taken over by his brother Roffredo, a musician and composer, and his wife Marguerite Chapin, an American and tireless patron of the arts, a literary scholar, journalist and art collector, as well as editor of two important literary magazines: Commerce and Botteghe Oscure.
If Ada delighted in creating vegetable gardens and planting trees, it was Marguerite who transformed it into an English landscape garden.
The last heiress and gardener was Lelia, daughter of Roffredo and Marguerite. A sensitive and delicate woman, she cared for the garden like a large painting, being a painter, combining colours and following the natural development of the plants, contributing to making this botanical jewel, one of the best known Italian gardens in the world.
Dulcis in fundo 2023 marks the entry into the Great Italian Gardens of Villa Schuler in Taormina.
In 1886 Eugen Schuler, a German by birth, chose to live in Taormina where the light inspired his passion for photography. He bought a piece of land in the centre of town and built a beautiful villa on it overlooking the bay of Giardini-Naxos and Etna.
With Eugen's untimely death, his enterprising wife Anna, in order to support the family, converted the Villa into a hotel, overcoming two expropriations due to the two world wars.
In the terraced garden, Mediterranean botanical species coexist with various subtropical and tropical species, a riot of colours and fragrances that rise up to the rooms to delight hotel guests.
Now in its fourth generation, the Schuler family takes loving care of the garden, which is considered the largest private green area in the historic centre of Taormina.
Let's discover them together.
The Almo Collegio Borromeo was founded in Pavia in 1561 by Cardinal Carlo Borromeo, of the illustrious aristocratic Borromeo family, to provide an opportunity for boys from the less affluent social classes to study.
Passing through the palace's magnificent courtyard designed by Pellegrino Tibaldi one discovers the Horti, a garden designed in a thoroughly contemporary key and housing works of art of the calibre of Arnaldo Pomodoro, Gianfranco Pardi, Nicola Carrino, Luigi Mainolfi, Mauro Staccioli and Salvatore Cuschera.
The current Rector, Alberto Lolli, animated by the conviction that beauty has a redeeming and pedagogical force, has succeeded in creating a garden in the city centre that you would not expect, which is characterised as a place of social inclusion open to the students of the College, citizens and visitors of all ages.
The gardens of Trentino Alto Adige are enriched by the Giardino Bortolotti in Lavis, in the province of Trento. The complex bears the name of its creator, Tommaso Bortolotti (Lavis, 1796-1872), who devoted every resource to the realisation of his visionary project.
The construction, which began in the 1830s, led him to create a terraced garden in Lavis, Trentino. An almost impossible feat that led him to design an extraordinary vertical landscape resting on the living porphyry of a medieval quarry. Also known as the ''Giardino dei Ciucioi'', it is home to over 2000 plants.
Now owned by the Municipality of Lavis this 'folly' enjoys recent restoration and renewed attention to the collection of new plants, to the delight of citizens and visitors alike.
Travelling along the boot from North to South, one arrives in the fairy-tale Giardino di Ninfa.
Travelling the boot from North to South, one arrives at the fairy-tale Giardino di Ninfa in Cisterna di Latina, in the province of Latina. The story of the creation of the Giardino di Ninfa is intertwined with that of three women: Ada Bootle Wilbraham, wife of Onorato Caetani, Margherite Chapin, wife of Roffredo Caetani, and their daughter Lelia.
The work began in 1920 with Gelasio Caetani who made a ruined medieval estate his summer residence, reorganised the water system and harnessed the power of the waters to create evocative waterways formed by the succession of small lakes, waterfalls and streams that meander through the vegetation. Compared to his English mother, Ada Bootle Wilbraham, he planted a large number of essences.
When he died in 1934, the Garden was taken over by his brother Roffredo, a musician and composer, and his wife Marguerite Chapin, an American and tireless patron of the arts, a literary scholar, journalist and art collector, as well as editor of two important literary magazines: Commerce and Botteghe Oscure.
If Ada delighted in creating vegetable gardens and planting trees, it was Marguerite who transformed it into an English landscape garden.
The last heiress and gardener was Lelia, daughter of Roffredo and Marguerite. A sensitive and delicate woman, she cared for the garden like a large painting, being a painter, combining colours and following the natural development of the plants, contributing to making this botanical jewel, one of the best known Italian gardens in the world.
Dulcis in fundo 2023 marks the entry into the Great Italian Gardens of Villa Schuler in Taormina.
In 1886 Eugen Schuler, a German by birth, chose to live in Taormina where the light inspired his passion for photography. He bought a piece of land in the centre of town and built a beautiful villa on it overlooking the bay of Giardini-Naxos and Etna.
With Eugen's untimely death, his enterprising wife Anna, in order to support the family, converted the Villa into a hotel, overcoming two expropriations due to the two world wars.
In the terraced garden, Mediterranean botanical species coexist with various subtropical and tropical species, a riot of colours and fragrances that rise up to the rooms to delight hotel guests.
Now in its fourth generation, the Schuler family takes loving care of the garden, which is considered the largest private green area in the historic centre of Taormina.
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On Earth there is no heaven, but there are pieces of it.- Jules Renard - |
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