The most beautiful gardens in Italy. Green treasures to discover

NOn just have an important garden and be willing to open it to the public to enter the network Big Italian gardens (Grandigiardini.it). There are precise requirements to meet. “The garden you want to nominate must have a historical, artistic and botanical interest” explains Judith Wadefounder and managing director of this network of excellence. “But it’s not enough. It must also ensure a high level of maintenance. The visitor, who chooses to go there, must be sure to find the functioning fountains, the well -made pruning, an environment with artfully treated by the gardeners ».

No less important is the last feature: must have a predisposition to welcome tourists. “And offer a program of reliable openings,” underlines Wade. «A visitor who comes from afar to see a garden cannot risk finding it closed. In addition, the structure must also be opened to the welcome of groups, of disabled people, of school groups ».

For thirty years, Judith Wade carefully evaluates who to admit to its circuit. «I don’t care about the numbers, but the quality. Big Italian gardens enjoys an excellent image abroad and I keep that the visitor finds exactly what we tell about our site ».

Discovering prehistoric plants

Caneva gardens in Sarzana (La Spezia)

Visiting this garden, which extends for 1.2 hectares inside the seventeenth -century walls of Sarzana, is like making a journey into space and time. Enrico Caneva has in fact selected 15 thousand plants of 2500 species from every corner of the globe. And to make us dream of being on the set of Jurassic Park has dedicated an area to prehistoric plantsthus becoming one of the four gardens in the world with such a collection.

“Everything stems from my passion for greenery,” he says. «I lived for twenty years in Paris, where I worked in the industrial field. There I created my first garden ». The rest did the sun and fate. “In Sarzana we found this land, in the past agricultural, then left uncultivated,” he says. “My idea was to create a sensory garden, linked to essences and perfumes». He succeeded: 800 of the plants now present in the property are used in perfumery.

Inspired by the many gardens and botanical gardens visited around the world, which offer immersive experiences, Enrico Caneva has created A path linked to the geographical areas of origin, from Japan to Himalayas, from the Americas to South Africa and Australia.

Not to be missed. The Podocarpus collectionancient conifers that already existed 105 million years ago; the area of the roses dedicated to Josephine Beauharnais; The Huperzia collection and the conifers, of which Caneva is passionate about; the section dedicated to the Australian flora with proteaceae with surprising flowers; The mimosas, present in the garden with 27 species.

From 2018 to today the Caneva gardens have become a vegetable treasureso much so that three years ago the owner decided not to keep so much beauty just for himself. Today they are accessible with guided visits to be booked and are the scenario of various cultural events and activities for schools.
Info: giandinicaneva.org

Vita Sackville West edited the garden

Villa Cimbrone in Ravello (Salerno)

The Belvedere terrace of the infinity It is certainly the greatest attraction. At the bottom of a long avenue, a series of marble busts turn their back on the blue of the Gulf of Salerno and the sky. The gaze embraces the sea and the Amalfi coast. Villa Cimbrone with its seven hectare garden is a magical place.

“The terraces system is ancient» explains Marco Vuilleumier, dizziness and curator of the greenery. “The setting of the villa and the statues date back to the Renaissance.” It is the Fusco family that gives the garden a physiognomy, the property then passes to the friends of Atrani and after a period of abandonment it is purchased by an Englishman, Ernest William Beckett.

In the first half of the twentieth century, Villa Cimbrone became a meeting place for the Bloomsbury Group cultural cenacle. “Vita Sackville West has carried out interventions in the gardeneven if we don’t know which one, “says Vuilleumier. In the 1960s, Marco’s grandfather detected the property from the heirs Beckett and transformed it into a hotel, still managed by the family today. The garden can also be visited by those who are not a guest by paying a ticket.

Not to be missed. “The roseto with the botanical roses, the hydrangeas and the path that leads from the west side to the west side to the Grotto di Eva, passing through a Mediterranean scrub of holm oaks, chestnuts, ash,” comments Vuilleumier. «The area of the Temple of Bacchus has a shady forest with many spontaneous, such as bulbose, asphodesous, legumes and euphorbias. And then, the cypresses of cypresses, the pines, the wisteria ». There is to be lost walking in this garden, which Marco Vuillermier is making more sustainable, limiting water consumption.
Info: hotelvillacimbrone.com

Italian gardens

Villa Miralfiore in Pesaro

With Almost a hectare of garden immersed in a city urban parkVilla Miralfiore stands in the heart of Pesaro. The home saw illustrious families pass, the Sforza, the doctors, the of the oak. In 1992, The entrepreneur Vittorio Livi bought it by creating a glass museumwith works of designers and contemporary artists. “Recently a restoration of the garden has been made,” says Silvia Torri, curator of Villa Miralfiore. “There is also a work by Munari.”

Renaissance beauty and botanical wealth are intertwined in the five gardens, three Italians with parterre di Bosso and two others with plantsfrom Mirto to Agapanti. There are two visits. Alone, only in the garden. Alternatively, with the Villa Miralfiore Experience, the museum is also accessed, the chapel with the copy of the glass work depicting Christ, signed by Livi and donated to Benedict XVI, to the frescoes of the Zuccari brothers, made in 1560.

Not to be missed. «Near the chapel, staying in the garden dedicated to Pope Albani and looking at a window, you can see the Giardino dei Della Rovere. The glyce falling, the parterre in the shape of a star star make this place special »says Torri. «Note the fountains with shells set and the snowfall in the Alban Garden. A Blobe Biloba, two Himalaya cedars, one from Lebanon and a secular plane tree ». An important presence is that of the roses.
Info: villamiralfiore.it

A romantic grove

The roundabout in Vicenza

Villa Almerico Capra called “La Rotonda” is the most iconic Venetian villa, The Palladian masterpiece emblem of perfection that inspired the White House and Monticello’s home by Thomas Jefferson. UNESCO Heritage since 1994, the villa has been surrounded by over 12 hectares of country land that include 1.5 hectares of romantic grove, open to the public only since 1 April. A novelty that is worth discovering, together with the amazing interiors of the villa and the boat (it is not possible to visit only the garden).

At the origin of this special place is Paolo Almericoimportant character at the papal court in the sixteenth century who hires Andrea Palladio. But later the fate of the villa, as of Vicenza, are affected by the decadence of Venice, Napoleon and the wars of independence. In 1912 the noblewoman Giustina, great -grandmother of the current owner Nicolò Valmarana, acquired with his son Andrea the villa from the last heirs of the Capra family.

In accordance with the vision of Palladio, the architecture had to integrate with the landscapeTherefore the villa, in an elevated position, did not have a particular garden. The grove was made in the mid -nineteenth century, it was a vegetable garden. Not to be missed. «The former citrus citrus watches with bitter orange and prunus subhirtella.

A tour along the paths of the romantic grove, which he presents 430 trees with native essences of the Berici hillsbut also Lebanon cedars, Oriental Platani, Celis Orientalis, Tigli and Querce. 65 thousand bulbs of narcissi and tulips were also planted in Prato clearings »comments Valmarana. “Around the villa, there are 1200 roses plants.”

To encourage the search for inner well -being, There are musical listening and yoga listening activities. You can visit the villa and garden alone, with guides and in some dates accompanied by Nicolò Valmarana.
Info: villalarotonda.it

Music and Green

Villa Togni In Gussago (Brescia)

A French garden of the late seventeenth century and an English park of the early twentieth century. A villa that has attracted the international musical world and that today lives a new season, with concerts and lessons on Baroque music and ancient instruments. Villa Togni, of medieval origins is a combination of garden and music.

The soul of this rebirth is Giulio Francesco Tognidirector of the Foundation Tomorrow the Aurora, harpsichordist and conductor. “The property was bought by Giulio Togni (great -grandfather of the current owners) at the beginning of the twentieth century” he says. “Camillo Togni, pianist and composer of contemporary music, lived there.”

Today the interior of the villa cannot be visited. The French garden was built following the dictates of the famous architect of Oltralpe André Le Nôtre. A hectare of the garden is dedicated to a orchard, regenerated in 2021. An apiary has recently been created with six hives.

Not to be missed. The French garden is enriched by 17 trompe-eeils grafted in the carpinian hedge surrounding all the parterre. “They are works by Ludovico Inganni,” explains Togni. “Of the other nine, more damaged by humidity because they are exposed to the north, we know nothing”. Garden visits, by reservation with Audioguida or guided by Giulio Togni, are possible only in a few days of the week, the weekend is consecrated to music related projects.
Info: Tomorrowalaurora.org