Italian Gardens Archives

Gardens Near and Far episode 42 – Sacro Bosco

Gardens Near and Far / 2 minutes of reading / October 16, 2019 / By HDclump

Gardens Near and Far episode 42 – Sacro Bosco: The Sacred Grove, a mysterious garden to the North East of Rome, was created in the 1550s by Vicino Orsini, Lord of Bomarzo, who worked on beautifying it until his death in 1584. He drew inspiration from the Etruscan civilisation but in a style that was closer to Mannerism, a trend at the end of the Italian Renaissance that refused the traditional rules of harmony and imitation of nature. After Vicino Orsini’s death, the garden was abandoned for nearly 350 years. In the mid 20th century it was rediscovered, […]

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Gardens Near and Far episode 23 – Ninfa

Gardens Near and Far / 2 minutes of reading / July 25, 2019 / By HDclump

Gardens Near and Far episode 23 – Ninfa : By the twelfth century, the ancient settlement of Ninfa had become a sizeable town with a castle. The noble Caetani family were granted the fiefdom. But the town’s population was decimated by civil wars in the fourteenth century, then driven out by malaria. Ninfa lay abandoned until the twentieth century, when three generations of Caetani women – Ada, Marguerite and Lelia – became fascinated with it and made a garden in the ruins of the old town. Wild and cultivated plants twine through the ruins in a riot of

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Gardens Near and Far episode 22 – Villa d’Este

Gardens Near and Far / 2 minutes of reading / July 24, 2019 / By HDclump

Gardens Near and Far episode 22 – Villa d’Este: The Villa d’Este near Rome in Italy was a model for all Renaissance gardens that followed. Created in the 16th century by Cardinal Hippolyte d’Este, who was descended from a wealthy family in Ferrare, the gardens are set on a hill overlooking a villa. Work on creating the gardens started in 1550, and continued for over 20 years. In the 19th century, they underwent long periods of abandon, but paradoxically, the abundant, wild vegetation attracted artists like Fragonard and Liszt, who composed “The Fountains of the Villa d’Este” there.

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