OREvery year the Giardiniera’s Agenda chooses a common thread and for the 2026 at center stage is the hat. Not just any one, but that of the gardener, told in all its declinations: practical, elegant, symbolic. A journey that crosses time and style, from the work hat to the felt beret for the winter, from the sophisticated cloche to the romantic boater adorned with flowers.
Gardener’s agenda: 2026 under the hat
A gallery of women from the past who made headgear a distinctive sign also takes shape within the pages. Like Matilde Serao, writer and journalist, with her singular French-style top hat, or Grazia Deledda who, Nobel Prize winner for Literature in 1926, remained faithful to her Sardinian roots by wearing the traditional moncadòre shawl in black Tibetan wool.
Then there is a hat for every season: the bright boater that accompanies springthe wide-brimmed Pamela that protects from the summer sun, the tambourine with a 1940s charm for autumn afternoons and the turban that warms the winter. The absolute protagonist of Made in Italy is unmissable: the famous Straw Hat of Florence, known in France as chapeaux de paille d’Italie. Born in the eighteenth century, still produced and exported today, it is considered an early symbol of female emancipation thanks to the expert hands of the braid makers of the Florentine plain, artisans who braided the straw.
All the roses of 2026
As per tradition, there is no shortage of roses, the unmistakable signature of the agenda. Also for this edition Rita Oliva, collector and scholar, proposes 24 varieties. The protagonists are the magnificent Rose Centifolia, the “roses with a hundred petals”, opulent and fragrant, capable of crossing all shades of pink, up to cyclamen and purple. Originally from Holland and adopted by France, they were favorite muses of Flemish painters. Among these, the mossy Chapeau de Napoléon stands out, which recalls the shape of the famous tricorn of the Emperor, the surprising Bullata, with its enormous flower similar to a cabbage, and the curious Le Rire Niais, also called “Centifolia ingrata”, because its scent, unlike the others, vaguely recalls that of the oriental bug.
The gardener’s agenda is also an invitation to move, to explore
There are many destinations and gardens to discover or rediscover, like the Castel Ruggero farm and Villa Le Barone in Chiantior nature itineraries on the Alpe della Luna, in the Tuscan-Romagna Apennines, and on Monte Venda in the Euganean Hills Park. Routes designed by agronomists Elena Macellari and Mario Ronzano, to remind us that even nature, upon closer inspection, is full of hats.
The Gardener’s Agenda 2026 is also a collector’s book, a personal diary and a new monograph that enriches the Nicla Edizioni catalogue. Founded in 2008 by Nicoletta Campanella, the publishing house specializes in refined publications dedicated to the history of gardens, landscape art and the ancient and contemporary world of flowers. An object to keep on the desk, but also to leaf through slowly.
Info:
The Gardener’s Agenda 2026 – The Hats
Nicla Edizioni, €18