Italy in Bloom: Villa Gardens, the Padua Botanical Garden and Flower Carpets

People go to Italy for art and food, but Italian gardens are part of the world’s heritage too. It was here, in the Renaissance, that the formal garden with terraces, fountains and statues took shape before being copied across Europe. Here are the gardens and flower festivals worth adding to your route.

Italian elegance in a bouquet: garden roses and flowers in a box.

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Gardens worth the trip

• Villa d’Este, Tivoli. A Renaissance garden with hundreds of fountains, cascades and water organs, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• Boboli Gardens, Florence. The park behind the Pitti Palace, created for the Medici family: grottoes, avenues, statues and city views.
• Padua Botanical Garden. Founded in 1545, it is considered the oldest university botanical garden still in its original location.
• The Borromean Islands, Lake Maggiore. Isola Bella has a Baroque terraced garden, Isola Madre a botanical garden with exotic plants.
• The Garden of Ninfa. A romantic garden among the ruins of a medieval town south of Rome, open to visitors only on certain days.

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Italian flower festivals

• Infiorata. For the feast of Corpus Christi (late spring or early summer), streets in Spello, Genzano and other towns are covered with petal carpets. Work goes on all night, and by the next evening the designs are gone.
• Sanremo, the Riviera of Flowers. The town is known for its flower market and a spring parade of flower-decorated floats.
• Wisteria and rose season. In April and May wisteria drapes villas and courtyards, and Rome’s municipal rose garden on the Aventine opens to visitors.

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The best months for gardens are April, May and September. For other countries, see famous gardens of the world and flower etiquette around the world.

FAQ

What is the Infiorata?

A festival in which streets are decorated with patterns and pictures made of flower petals, held for the feast of Corpus Christi.

Which garden should I choose with only one day in Rome?

Villa d’Este in Tivoli: it is about an hour from Rome, and you can be back by evening.

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Author: Maria Svitlovir

Graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Institute of Biology and Medicine (2001). BSc in Biology, MSc in Horticulture. Writes about plants, works at a garden centre selecting and repotting plants, and contributes to plant reference guides.