The Most Beautiful Park in Italy

11-07-2017

The two winners of the “Most Beautiful Park in Italy 2017” award

Villa Durazzo Pallavicini in Genova Pegli and Villa La Foce in Val d'Orcia (Chianciano Terme, Siena): these two natural gems have been carefully selected by the Scientific Committee of the “Il Parco più Bello d’Italia” Award as the winners of its 15th edition. More than 1,000 მონაწილants—part of the network of Italy’s most beautiful parks and featured in the online guide “ilparcopiubello.it”—took part. For over fifteen years, the initiative has promoted green tourism focused on discovering Italy’s rich landscape and botanical heritage.

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Villa Durazzo Pallavicini (Genova Pegli)

Considered one of the most original Romantic parks in the world, the park of Villa Durazzo Pallavicini—commissioned by Marquis Ignazio Pallavicini—was conceived and created in 1840 by the set designer Michele Canzio. The result is not simply a Romantic-style garden, but a true narrative itinerary, where a sequence of scenic settings unfolds along a storyline: the Classical Avenue, the Coffee House, the Triumphal Arch, the Hermit’s House, the Grottoes, the Great Lake with its Chinese Pagoda, the Temple of Diana, the Roman Bridge, the Gardens of Flora, and the Rose Gazebo. All elements are arranged in a picturesque landscape, meticulously composed in both its architectural and botanical features, and organized along a carefully designed route enriched with esoteric symbolism. The park also hosts plant specimens of remarkable botanical and landscape value: a monumental camphor tree לצד a cedar of Lebanon by the lake, a collection of exotic palms, centuries-old araucaria and cork trees, banksia roses and cherry laurel. Particularly noteworthy is the collection of ancient camellias—some over a hundred years old—which, every spring, become a true attraction thanks to their extraordinary blooms.