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Page 9, the Royal Palace of Caserta with its greenhouse. Page 12, the Boboli Gardens in Florence
Page 10-11, a view of the Royal Palace’s waterfall and the Italian garden on Isola Bella

Cities must start considering people once again and putting them at the

fulcrum, in the name of a new humanism in search of the physical and
mental well-being of their inhabitants. Obviously, this revolution will give

increasing importance to gardens and parks.

We are facing a watershed moment that calls for drastic and ly, and it became the summer residence of Cosimo I. Lorenzo de’
courageous choices for the future, one of which is how to plan our Medici (not to be confused with his “Magnificent” cousin) commis-
cities. Today, in our urban spaces (and further afield) we must start sioned Sandro Botticelli to make two paintings for the manor (The
considering people once again and putting them at the fulcrum, in Birth of Venus and Primavera); Nicolò Tribolo was entrusted with
the name of a new humanism that will redraw urban contours in the garden, which Leon Battista Alberti later wrote was the most
search of the physical and mental well-being of their inhabitants. beautiful that had ever been seen until then.
Obviously, this revolution will give increasing importance to In 1549, Eleanor of Toledo, the wife of Cosimo I, commissioned
gardens and parks. The reclamation of abandoned areas and their Tribolo to enlarge the gardens of Palazzo Pitti: the Boboli Gardens,
transformation into people-oriented green lungs is already under- 45 thousand square meters and the most dazzling example of Italian
way: between now and 2030, Milan will inaugurate twenty parks, gardens. Every year, almost one million tourists visit the gardens and
for a total of 24 million square meters of metropolitan nature at the the lemon houses, where they can admire citrus trees that are hun-
disposal of its citizens. A new patrimony that joins the historical one dreds of years old and date back to the time of the Medici dynasty.
of villas and palazzi, over 5,000 in Italy alone: the fruits of a type of The Renaissance style revolved around man, divided between
architecture that considered gardens to be a fundamental aspect of an existence of pleasures – represented by nymphs, satyrs, and var-
the social fabric since the very beginning of the great civilizations. ious divinities – and a ceaseless spiritual tension. It was followed by
For example, consider Kolymbethra Garden in Agrigento, Mannerism and the gardens were embellished with grottoes, large
which was created by the tyrant Theron right after the battle of Hi- staircases, waterfalls and imposing groups of statues. An absolute
mera in 480 BC. Diodorus Siculus described this citrus garden as a masterpiece of this period is Villa d’Este at Tivoli, where the archi-
“breeding ground of prized flora and abundant wild fauna.” It was tect Pirro Ligorio was called on to transform an inaccessible, steep
a sort of earthly paradise. And it’s no coincidence that in Ancient plot of land into one of the most spectacular gardens in the world,
Greece, the term paradeisos was used when talking about the court- rendered unique by fifty fountains, one hundred basins, and 255 wa-
yards of royal palaces, where flowers and fruits were cultivated. In terfalls fed through the principle of communicating vessels.
ancient times, that was the main function of gardens: they were ar- Italian gardens became a fashion that spread throughout the
eas enclosed by fences or walls, where the trees provided shade so courts of Europe, in particular France, where Catherine de’ Medi-
people could take refuge under them during the sultriest days. The ci arrived in 1533. The Jardin du Luxembourg, the Tuileries Garden,
Romans transformed these places into peristyles embellished with and Fontainebleau felt the influence of Italy; naturally, these gar-
columns and water effects, a design which was adopted in medieval dens were adapted to a different geographical conformation, broad-
times when constructing the cloisters of convents. er spaces, and levels that lent greater magnificence. This is where
During the late Renaissance, the classical models and the ad- the Baroque garden developed. But Italy also has its own dazzling
vances made in botany during the Middle Ages generated a new examples, such as the gardens of Isola Bella, where the Borromeo
concept of the garden as a place to cultivate trees, fruits, and souls. family transformed a rocky crag into a spectacular series of terrac-
Humanism was in full swing and the Medici court developed what es, obelisks, and fountains with a view of Lago Maggiore. Or the
would later be called the formal garden or Italian garden: it was char- park of the Royal Palace of Caserta, which was constructed by Van-
acterized by a subdivision of the space into geometrical areas out- vitelli in the mid-1600s. Pride of place goes to groups of statues that
lined by plants and hedges, forming a precise design where, over the rise from the basins scattered over 120 hectares and are fed by an
decades, fountains, statues, and other embellishments found space. aqueduct 41 kilometers (25 miles) long. The “Pescheria Vecchia” is
Every Medici estate has its own garden. The first one, Villa Car- a place of amusement par excellence created so young Ferdinand
eggi, was joined by the castles of Cafaggiolo and Trebbio. In 1477, IV could stage his naval battles. The gardens of the Royal Palace
the family purchased Villa di Castello from the Della Stufa fami- also show the influence of a new fashion which took hold during the

Protagonist Landscaping 13