Visiting local gardens is a great way to see a far-flung destination from a different perspective and admire the beauty of the regional flora. It’s also an opportunity to treat yourself to a few quiet hours, take a slow break from the usual holiday routine and reconnect with nature. Garden tourism — this is the name of this growing trend — is a “regenerative” form of land discovery that also has a positive impact on the environment and local communities, not to mention our mental and physical wellbeing. Among the great classics of garden tourism here in the Bel Paese are the mysterious gardens of the Borromean Islands, those of Trauttmansdorff Castle in Merano, the Garden of Ninfa in Cisterna di Latina, La Mortella in Ischia, the Villa d’Este in Tivoli, the Reggia di Caserta, the Villa della Pergola in Alassio, the Parco Sigurtà in Valeggio sul Mincio and Boboli in Florence — iconic places that need no introduction. Equally interesting, however, are the many botanical parks and lush landscapes that can be found in the Great Gardens of Italy Circuit. Here we have selected five for your next holiday with a special history and a special style.
The Garden of the Impossible, Favignana (TP)
The Garden of the Impossible in Favignana (TP) – Grandi Giardini Italiani
Beyond the dreamy coves, the island of Favignana (TP) hides a breathtaking garden. Countless people told Donna Maria Gabriella Campo – the owner of the garden – that it was impossible to grow ornamental plants in this sun-burnt rocky landscape… But thanks to her tenacity, the Garden of the Impossible was born. The first area was created between 1960 and 1980 around the manor house, while from 1995 to 2010 the project extended into a picturesque and surreal abandoned tuff quarry, used for years as an illegal waste dump. Donna Maria and her husband have since transformed a 40,000 m2 area into a green oasis where more than 500 species of ornamental plants coexist. The stars of the summer are the blue hyacinths, around which shrubs, grasses, climbers and succulents thrive. The hand-dug tuff walls provide a beautiful backdrop for a variety of subtropical species including hibiscus and frangipani, as well as fragrant pelargoniums and water lilies, all welcomed into a picturesque pond.
La Scarzuola: A rock garden in Terni
La Scarzuola, Terni – Grandi Giardini Italiani
“I could poetically describe myself as someone who lives in his labyrinth, from which the Minotaur was expelled and Theseus and Ariadne emerged after the fall of Icarus,” wrote the architect Tommaso Buzzi (1900-1981). And this labyrinth of his is La Scarzuolain Montegabbione (TR), in the middle of the hills of the less travelled Umbria. It is a surreal village born from the dreamlike vision of the designer who, next to the monastery founded in 1218 by Saint Francis of Assisi, built the Ideal city inspired by Francesco Colonna’s Hypnerotomachia poliphili (1499). Where Colonna planted a laurel and a rose, Buzzi created a mysterious rock garden. A man of great culture and professor at the Politecnico di Milano, the “champion of Art Deco”, bought the complex in 1956. Between 1958 and 1978 he created an architectural gem that mixes classical and modern elements, historical references and esoteric symbols, disproportionately large staircases, monsters and alchemical symbols. The Acropolis is complex and evocative, with a series of empty buildings that offer multiple perspectives and stimulate the imagination. The work embodies an impossible dream and remains for many a mystery to be deciphered. “La Scarzuola is the perfect place for ants, lizards that bask in the sun, snails that leave silvery trails on stones, silkworms that huddle in their cocoons and then weave their noble threads, bees that build architectural hives, butterflies, crickets, cicadas and every other little light that worships the sun,” said Buzzi.
The Royal Gardens of Venice: A rediscovered Eden
I Giardini Reali di Venezia – Grandi Giardini Italiani
Despite the popularity of the Serenissima, the Royal Gardens of Venice, connected to St. Mark’s Square by a drawbridge, remain an unexpected place for many. This oasis combines geometric design with lush plants that we are more familiar with in English gardens. The story began in 1807 with Napoleon’s plan to reform the Marciana area. Over the centuries, the park was redesigned several times and eventually fell into disuse until the State Property Office gave it to the Venice Gardens Foundation as a concession in 2014. After years of restoration led by landscape architect Paolo Pejrone, the gardens were restored to their former glory and reopened to the public in September 2020. Today, the flowerbeds struggle to keep the lushness of the subtropical blooms and vegetation under control. The long arbor is wrapped in wisteria and Podranea ricasoliana ‘Contessa Sara’, a climbing plant typical of Habsburg gardens with pink summer flowers. Between the groves of Japanese SophoraEvergreen plants such as laurel, Pythosphorus and Eleagni form a plant “dune” that provides a backdrop for giant aralias (Tetrapanax papyrifer), rarely Beschorneria yuccoidesOrnamental lilies, white hydrangeas (Panicle hydrangea And H. arborescens “Annabelle), Farfugium with large shiny leaves and many herbaceous perennials that Pejrone has chosen to create a lush effect. In the pots along the canal grow pomegranates, figs, medlars, jujubes, shiny viburnums, feijoa and bitter orange trees, in memory of the old citrus basins
Negombo Park: A tropical Eden on Ischia
Negombo Park, Ischia – Grandi Giardini Italiani
The thermal springs of Ischia are well known, but their special garden has not yet been discovered by many. In 1946, Duke Luigi Silvestro Camerini, a passionate botanist and traveller looking for a place to create a park, was enchanted by the Genius loci of San Montano, which reminded him of the bay of Negombo in Sri Lanka. Here, in Lacco Ameno (NA), among the ruins of the Greek city of Pithecusa – founded around 770 BC – Camerini decided to create a garden where plants from all parts of the world could coexist in harmony with the local flora. The owners’ botanical passion is the basis for the landscaping by Ermanno Casasco, who since 1998 has been opening up perspectives in the vegetation by creating twists and turns and creating contemporary sculptures (including Arc-en-ciel And Riva dei Mari by Arnaldo Pomodoro, Strale for Negombo by Lucio del Pezzo, The eyes of Nesti and Neri by Laura Panno), which trigger a dialogue with Australian, Brazilian and South African trees. Among the most important plants we find Erythrins, Ficus magcrophylla columnaris, Corymbia sylvestris, Hakea And Encephalartos. In addition to the current Negombo Hydrothermal Park, 12 pools in the English park, fed by a volcanic spring with water at 40°C, offer visitors a wellness experience. “Visitors continue to see us as a spontaneous place created by the wild. With every visit there comes the difficult moment of having to explain that no birds came by and dropped seeds so that everything could grow spontaneously,” explains owner Paolo Fulceri Camerini.
The rose garden of Ronzone (TN)
The Rose Garden of Ronzone (TN) – Grandi Giardini Italiani
Beyond the lush green paths and apple orchards of the Alta Val di Non lies a paradise for flower lovers. The rose garden was born from the vision of the architect Francesco Decembrini and the local council of Ronzone. Located 1,000 metres above sea level, it is windy and offers the perfect climate for roses, which offer a unique spectacle every summer. The roses are arranged in mixed groups, including Japanese Rugosa roses, bourbon roses, Rosa moschata Hybrids, Centifolia Roses, climbing roses, old Alba Group roses, which were widespread in the Middle Ages, and modern English roses. In total there are 2,500 plants of 500 varieties and more than ten thousand perennials that flank them in beautiful combinations. Unlike other rose gardens, here the rose bushes are presented as a garden, with the most pleasant combinations for biodiversity – a unique opportunity to take dozens of photos with the best mixes to imitate. The rose garden is managed organically and the cultivation techniques used are environmentally friendly and chemical-free. A long pergola surrounds you and allows you to observe the flowerbeds and the mountains of Alta Anaunia and the Adamello Brenta Park in the background while walking comfortably in the shade.
Attractions in the garden
Livlig53 | Set of 3 garden furniture
Now 22% discount
Blomus | Annaffiatoio in Metallo
Livlig53 | Garden hose
Westwing | Forbici per fiori con manico in legno di frassino Flora
Now with 15% discount
