“Fwomen were often the real protagonists of the green revolution in the gardens of Liguria in the second half of the nineteenth century, at the time of the arrival of aristocrats, former colonial officials and English merchants who decided to stay or retire to the rivieras “ explains Maria Chiara Pozzana, scientific director of the study days The English paradise on the Ligurian Riviera, at Villa Marigola di Lerici on 25 and 26 March. Among their reasons: the climate, the light, the charm of the views, the strong pound and a great interest in nature. Many were passionate gardeners, naturalists or botanists entranced by the spectacular results they obtained by growing plants en plein air, which in London they could only admire in the greenhouses of Kew Gardens.
“Real British colonies were born throughout the Ligurian arc, organized around 11 Anglican churches (today only in Bordighera and Genoa). The British inaugurated rich libraries (that of Alassio with its 15 thousand volumes is among the most important in English in Italy), and tennis and football clubs, like Genoa Cricket and Football Club»Explains Alessandro Bartoli, lawyer and essayist. To keep themselves informed, in the absence of their newspapers, which began to arrive around 1870, the British founded fortnightly: The Alassio News, The Italian Riviera illustrated Magazine, Le Journal de Bordighera And Au Pay du Soleilwith articles on the social life of expats, the Lista des ètrangers with arrivals and departures, lists of doctors, English pharmacies, social events and brief general information about the world.
Gardens in Liguria, fragrant frescoes of nature
The Loggia at Villa Hanbury, promontory of Mortola (Ventimiglia).
«Among the main legacies left by the British is a network of lush gardens that have transformed the landscape of Liguria, making it different from the eighteenth-century one of olive and citrus groves. The nineteenth-century importation of tropical and subtropical species, introduced by the English, French and German, enriched the Ligurian gardens and gave life to the palm-lined avenues characteristic of the rivieras »explain Maria Chiara Pozzana and Gaetano Zoccali, coordinator of the study days.
Gardens in Liguria: Villa Rezzola on the Gulf of Poets
Villa Rezzola, in Pugliola di Lerici, on the Gulf of Poets.
The journey to discover these evocative natural frescoes of evergreen Mediterranean and exotic flora starts from the east with Villa Rezzolaan ancient stately home with a large terraced garden on the Gulf of Poets, in Pugliola di Lerici, created by the Cochrane couple in the early twentieth century, for the botanical passion of his wife Helen Lavinia, watercolorist. The last owner, Maria Adele Carnevale Miniati (called Pupa), left it in 2020 as an inheritance to Fai to protect and enhance it. The species of distant origin in the park and the music room, in pure English style, amaze preserved over time by the cultured and curious Carnival countesses.
Villa Marigola in Lerici
The Garden of Villa Marigola in Lerici.
A little further on, in Lerici, there is Villa Marigola with a large garden (it is part of the Grandi Giardini Italiani network), the result of various interventions and modifications, rebuilt with neo-Renaissance taste by the owner Bibolini in 1926. There is a large Italian-style parterre that contrasts with the shady and dreamlike forest, favored by the English. The property included a seaside villa, where Percy and Mary Shelley, author of the novel, stayed in 1922 Frankenstein.
Gardens in Liguria: Villa Durazzo Pallavicini, in Genoa Pegli
The Great Lake of Villa Durazzo Pallavicini, in Genoa Pegli.
In Genoa Pegli, a stop at Villa Durazzo Pallavicini is a must for the oldest camelieto in Italy, commissioned by Clelia Durazzo Grimaldi, botanical collector, scholar and cataloger of exotic seeds and plants. The walk of almost three kilometers takes place in the silence of nature between botanical wonders, such as the kiosk of roses, and architectural wonders that have arrived in perfect condition up to the present day.
Gardens in Liguria: Villa della Pergola in Alassio
Another green wonder are the Gardens of Villa della Pergola in Alassio, a historical park of 22 thousand square meters that surrounds the nineteenth-century residences that belonged to the Hanbury della Mortola family, whose restoration was carried out by the landscape architect Paolo Pejrone. Also in this case there is a woman behind the recovery: Silvia Arnaud Ricci, who together with her husband and a group of friends, took over the property saving it from a building speculation, taking up the English tradition and completing the botanical collections of wisteria, with 34 varieties, and of agapanthus, with about 500 different cultivars.
In Sanremo, the city of flowers, the flower beds are well-kept, as are the municipal gardens of Villa Ormond, transformed by the Swiss Michel Louis Ormond into “roomy” plant environments: the palm grove, the cedar area, the ancient olive grove, the sequence of ficus and the grandiose central panorama, inspired by the Italian garden theme. The property includes the Floriseum, Museum of the flower, on the history of floriculture.
Gardens in Liguria: plants from all over the globe
The facade of the Bicknell Museum, in Bordighera.
Monumental effects, from the landscape point of view, in the Park of the Bicknell Museum, in Bordighera. Here two gigantic strangling ficus (Ficus magnoloids) have incorporated a part of a wall and a gate, next to an Australian tea tree plant, African palms and South American jacarandas chosen by the botanist and passionate naturalist Clarence Bicknell to revive the overseas he met in his youth. At Capo Mortola (Bordighera) there are the Hanbury Botanical Gardens, where since 1867 by the will of Sir Thomas Hanbury thousands of ornamental, medicinal and fruit plants have been acclimatized from all over the globe. During the visits you can admire one of the richest collections of succulents in the world. Then there are monumental trees planted around 1870 and in spring the blooms of peonies, jasmines, sages, ancient and modern roses and mimosas explode.
The garden of Villa Piacenza Boccanegra, in Latte.
Flower women
The spectacular nature of these gardens is due to Dorothy Hanbury who oversaw the transformation, focusing on the landscape views. In the very last strip of western Liguria, in Latte, a few kilometers from the French border, there is a female work of art created by Ellen Ann Willmott, among the first women accepted into the Royal Horticultural Society. She is passionate about plants, she transformed Villa Piacenza Boccanegra in an original garden with a natural appearance, a mix of exotic and spontaneous species.
Where to sleep in the Ligurian gardens
Villa della Pergola Relais Chateau
Alassio. Fifteen luxury rooms, including four suites, surrounded by a spectacular garden. The property will reopen from April 7th. Double from 310 euros. villadellapergola.com
B&B La Terrazza of the Pelargoniums
Ventimiglia. Three rooms, all different, of which the most panoramic is the largest and has period furniture and views of the Val Roja. From spring onwards, breakfast is served on the flowery terrace. Double b & b from 85 euros. laterrazzadeipelargoni.it
B&B La Terrazza by Vico Olivi
Ventimiglia. Three rooms in a former tower house, with flowery and succulent terraces. Breakfast on the top floor in the living room or open air. Double from 90 euros. laterrazzadivicoolivi.it
Where to eat
Hidden Goodness Restaurant
Lerici. Fish is the king of the table: raw seafood, spaghetti with vegetable marine plankton with prawns and burrata. bontanascoste.it
Da Miro Restaurant
Pegli. Fish menu: sea bass ravioli with white clam ragout, prawns and pine nuts, gnocchi with octopus ragout. ristorantemiroge.com
Nine
Villa della Pergola, Alassio. The starred chef Giorgio Pignagnoli rediscovers local flavors: corzetti of fresh pasta with light pesto and warm scampi, red mullet from the Ligurian sea stuffed with stockfish. noveristorante.it
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