What came first, mankind or gardens? From a biblical point of view, there is no doubt: the garden’s existence preceded human creation. The word “paradise,” originating from the Persian pairidaez, indeed means garden.
But this paradise is anything but lost: from the Garden of Eden to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, to places of recreation and culture inspired by the classical ideals of order and harmony, where theatrical performances, concerts, and parties are organised.
Today, we move toward rediscovering a beauty that belongs to us, no longer for the exclusive use of courts and noble families. The desire to explore unknown gardens and discover the history behind them, along with a new sensitivity toward the environment and the pleasure of sharing enjoyable moments outdoors, are driving a new category of travelers who make horticultural tourism a rapidly evolving phenomenon. In a few years, this group has grown from a small niche of botany and horticulture enthusiasts to include other categories of tourists, such as families and young people, driven by a much greener approach.
The botanical tourism sector is also growing in terms of quality offerings. Just think that the network of Grandi Giardini Italiani (a cultural enterprise founded in 1997 to promote and enhance Italy’s most beautiful gardens) now includes about 150 gardens that meet strict botanical, artistic, and historical standards. Additionally, 35 of these green gems feature accommodations (hotels, bed and breakfasts, agritourisms) where visitors can stay overnight after their visit. This network offers not just garden visits but also a high level of tourist hospitality, with access to exclusive lodgings, bars, restaurants, and cultural events, creating a more complete and fulfilling experience.
For example, in the gardens of Villa della Pergola in Alassio, which this year celebrates its eighteenth anniversary since its rescue from development (thanks to Silvia Arnaud Ricci and the help of landscaper Paolo Pejrone). Here, a walk under the wisteria waterfall that makes the gardens unique in the world from March to April, or a summer promenade among the paths surrounded by the blooming agapanthus (the largest and most important collection in Europe), can find refreshment at a table at the Michelin-starred Nove restaurant (led by chef Antonio Romano), and conclude in one of Villa della Pergola’s rooms overlooking the Gulf of Ponente, already part of Relais & Chateaux.
Today, the Grandi Giardini Italiani host over 700 events each year, each stemming from the creative vein of the owners and their teams: there is direction, an event calendar, and a rich and varied offering that places the gardens at the heart of initiatives bringing entertainment and culture.
The Labirinto della Masone near Fontanellato in Emilia Romagna, in addition to hosting the world’s largest existing labyrinth, composed entirely of bamboo plants, sets up high-level art exhibitions and houses two suites, a restaurant, and a bookstore. Its creator, Franco Maria Ricci, needs no introduction: publisher, bibliophile, designer, and collector. Besides realizing a shared dream in conversations with Borges, he built a citadel overflowing with a passion for Beauty.
Grandi Giardini also guide us through history, like at Villa Reale di Marlia in the Lucca countryside: part of the park retains its original 17th-century layout with boxwood hedges, flowerbeds, and tall trees, featuring the Verzura theater where the premiere of Jean Racine’s Fedra took place and where, in the early 1800s, Niccolò Paganini played the violin for Elisa Bonaparte. A few centuries later, Salvador Dalì, a regular visitor of the Pecci Blunt, enjoyed swimming in the Art Deco-style garden pool. The history continues on the first floor of the imposing Palazzina, now a museum hosting the cultural legacy of the great patron and collector, Countess Anna Laetitia Pecci-Blunt.
Among the foliage and flower beds, no artistic expression is excluded. In Axel Munthe’s house in Capri – we’re talking about Villa San Michele, directed by Kristina Kappelin – they built an amphitheater with an extraordinary view, showcasing a series dedicated to Swedish cinema. On the building’s roof, there’s a dream bar: just climb a few steps, and it’s as if only the sea and the garden exist in the world, with its African lilies, wisteria, Caucasian pomegranates, Italian pines, Japanese hydrangeas, Australian myrtle, and even a Swedish birch.
There are also thermal gardens, such as those of Negombo in Ischia, created by Duke Luigi Silvestro Camerini when he finally found the suitable location in Ischia to realize a park expressing his passion for botany. Here, besides the hydrothermal path, landscape architect Ermanno Casasco created an open-air museum, placing among the magnificence of plants from Australia, Japan, South Africa, and Brazil, prestigious sculptural works by Arnaldo Pomodoro, Lucio del Pezzo, Laura Panno, Giuseppe Maraniello, and Gianfranco Pardi. The offering doesn’t overlook food and lodging, showcasing the best in two beachside restaurants and the hotel overlooking the beautiful San Montano Bay (Hotel della Baia).
In Ischia, we move from sculpture to music, passing through the gardens of Lady Walton. La Mortella, now directed by Alessandra Vinciguerra, is a contemporary landscape and botanical masterpiece hosting over 3,000 plant species, desired by Susana, wife of the famous composer William Walton, and designed by Russell Page. Upon the musician’s death, she transformed the property into a monument to her husband’s genius and personality, creating a Foundation to promote music culture and maintain the garden.
For iris lovers, the garden is that of Villa La Massa hotel, celebrating the flower symbol of Florence with Italian-style flowerbeds within a 10-hectare park where blue agapanthus and cream-coloured peonies stand out against the green Tuscan landscape. The elegant building, initially a country residence of a noble Florentine family in the 18th century, was transformed into a luxury hotel in the mid-20th century. Today, the current owners have designed exclusive gardens for the suite guests.
While opulent Baroque banquets and naumachias belong to the past, gardens still represent that lively duet between humans and nature, where every single day offers something marvellous. A clash of the arts in strokes of beauty, because as Sir Walter Scott said, “Nothing is more the child of art than a garden.”