ROMAN TUSCIA
Discovering the historical parks that once have been theatres of royal court splendour, together with Dr. Ada Vittorina Segre, historian and specialist in historical gardens restoration, and some of the most relevant modern private gardens together with its owners and gardeners, whose passion for cultivating their naturalist keenness has urged to welcome us in their private green paradise.
Tuscia is an historical region of Italy that comprised the southern territories under Etruscan influence. It was originally including the whole Region of Tuscany, a great part of Umbria and the northern parts of Lazio, but later it came to coincide with today’s province of Viterbo.
1st day – BOMARZO, HORTUS UNICORNI GARDEN, CIVITA OF BAGNOREGIO
Guided tour of the SACRED WOOD. Also known as the "monsters park", the "Sacred Wood", rises one kilometre far from population centre, on the hillside down the castle. The father of this amazing creation, realized in the second half of the sixteenth century, is Pier Francesco Orsini, original and eclectic character of Italian Renaissance. The Monsters are carved on the volcanic rocks scattered all over the park and casually arranged simply following the natural dislocation suggested by the native elements on place. Anyway a whole impact is assured by the author’s restless search for the odd and his constant intention to make his artificial world to liaise with the surrounding native landscape. The park reveals Orsini’s ambition to create open-ended forms and an elusive scene such to suggest to visitors a casual appearance, but it also reflects Orsini’s admiration for multicultural and multiethnic arts, which was outstandingly epoch-making in the Italian cultural scene of the sixteenth Century. He was, in fact, very far-seeing towards Baroque. After the visit we will take a pause and enjoy some very typical food at one of the best restaurants of Attigliano.
The property owner attends HORTUS UNICORNI visit. This wonderfull garden-centre park shows a great number of plant specimens, it is framed by the wide valleys of Alta Tuscia and against the far horizon stands out Civita di Bagnoregio, also called the “dying village”. The producers of Hortus Unicorni are Luca de Troia, sculptor, painter and passionate gardener and the landscape designer Elio Cavallo. In a ten years period the park has turned into a small botanical garden able to contrast the bare and inhospitable appearance of the valleys lunar landscape.
CIVITA DI BAGNOREGIO, last leg, one of the most evocative village of Italy, set on the summit of a tuff hill among the native spread pinncles on a desolated plain. Plenty of time at one’s disposal for free strolls. The place is named “dying village” as it is based on a rockbank composed of some brittle clays that frequently produce landslips. So far the mediaeval tuff buildings, historical sights and alleys of the village have survived, closed in a motionless and timeless attractive silence.
4 stars hotel accomodation near Viterbo includes dinner and overnight stay.
2nd day – VILLA LANTE IN BAGNAIA, MOUTAN BOTANICAL CENTRE, VITORCHIANO 
Guided tour of VILLA LANTE and its gardens. The building established around mid-sixteenth century (probably on Vignola’s project), on request of cardinal Giovan Francesco de Gambara, bishop of Viterbo. Its architectural structure reperesents a great witness of Italian Reinessance Garden. The ungentle slope, cut-down in five terraces with courtly fountains all joined together by geometrcal step-ledders and decorations, ends up on a flower-bed floor from which all the buildings can be seen in its global set-up resambling theater wings. Most important is on the highest terrace the Flood Fountain, carved on a prominent rock it collects spring waters from Cimini Hills which falling down along the slope turn into waterfalls and feed all fountains. Special mention also goes to the Dolphins fountain and the Giant fountains (aim at symbolize Arno and Tevere), the Cardinal table tank, the night light fountain, the square fountain and the four moor sculpture. The interiors of the villa show fine decorations and very interesting fresco painting scenes on various subjects: mythology, religion, marine-life, allegory, ruin landscapes and many others.
MOUTAN BOTHANICAL CENTRE, an expert guide will assist the visit to discover the richest collection in the world of the Chinese Paeony, both herbaceous species and woody species. The MOUTAN Bothanical Centre represents a peace of native China moved in the heart of Roman countryside; the centre is gathering over 150.000 plants of 600 different variaties that belong to almost all the species already known but also to the most recently breeded natural hibrid species. The collection also includes the rare species that spontaneously grow only in the most isolated regions of Asia, but here they could find an ideal habitat of 15 hectares. The Centre has always been carrying out an information campaign for Paeony spreading, which has produced the plant to be well nown also by the western society who was enabled to enter all at once 3000 years of breeding practice of Far East botanists and gardeners.
VITORCHIANO, last stop of daily tour, has been decorated with the orange flag by the Italian Touring Club, it means the place ranks high for environmental and tourism value. Full time at one’s disposal to walk around the ancient village, the raw slopes over Vezza deep and Cold Water River. The village medieval suburb is one of the most interesting near Viterbo, a thick net of narrow ways dotted with churces, towers, ancient dwellings with typical external stairs, surrounded by crenellated walls of the fourteenth century. Some shopping is worthy to be done in Trappist Nun Monastery, where to buy delicious homemade jams and fine handicraft. Return to hotel for dinner.
3rd day – MELISSA’S GARDEN, FARNESE’S PALACE IN CAPRAROLA.
First leg in Canepina near the Lake Vico of volcanic origins. Visit to Melissa’s garden attended by Mrs Manuela the owner and gardener, fond of and proud of his celestial slice of land. Born of a fertile soil and fresh climate the garden has been breeded by love and keenness of the owner family for the nature ant art beauty. Handmade wood fancies enclose gentle bush roses of all kinds, rich in smell, colours and appeal; while the garden open spaces are studded with big trees, wood and rambling roses all over. Lunch at local agrotourism nearby.
Farnese’s Palace, in Caprarola, visit to the building and its gardens. It is a masterpiece of Italian late Mannerism, carried out at the beginning of the sixteenth century on a prehexisting stronghold with pentagonal plan originally approached by Sangallo. The project was assigned to a group of architects coordinated by Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola by the bishop Alessandro Farnese, nephew of Pope Paolo III. Behind the palace is a vast park with the gardens still faithfull reproduction of the Renaissence style, but yet prelude of the Baroque architectural concept as it can be noticed in the Ninfeo’s fountain, the Lily’s fountain, the with dolphins water-chain of the mian steps, the rivers fountain giants etc. The palace interiors are fresco painted and decorated by several artists among which stand out Zuccari brothers and Raffaellino da Reggio. It is a typical princely shelter reflecting daily court life crowded with men of letters, arts and learning, relatives and valets. Bus transfer to Bracciano, night accomodation with dinner in a newly built 3 stars hotel on the famous lakeshore.
4th day – BOTANICAL GARDEN OF SAINT LIBERATO, GARDENS OF PATRIZI’S PALACE IN CASTEL GIULIANO.
Tour of Botanical garden and the property of Saint Liberato, guided by the garden designer himself. With great passion and love count Donato Sanminiatelli and his wife Maria Odescalchi have been working hard to realize their green dream and now are proud to show it to all green lovers and gardening keeners. Famous garden and landscape designer Mr. Page, who as soon as arrived at Saint Liberato for the first time in 1964 exclaimed: "no place on heart has the same magical appeal of this!” assisted the couple prject. Page was glad to accept the challenge of turning this place into a small paradise even more magical than it was if possible. Saint Liberato is not only a real botanical garden collecting plant species from all over the world, but it’s also a beautiful Romanic church, surrounded by a chestnut groove and connected to the main park through an endless rambling rose tunnel of a thousand colour shades.
In the afternoon, guided tour of the park at Patrizi’s Palace in Castel Giuliano. This marvellous age-old park is located at the foot of Tolfa Mountains just in the middle of a huge property, which is the family homestead of marquises Patrizi since the sixteenth century. After it has been abandoned for centuries the ownership has decided to give back to the family park, the church and the castle, by a careful restoration the splendours of its glorious past. The garden is full of aromatic herbs and flowering bushes which decorate the foot of stately Pinus pinea, oaks, Lebanes ceders, magnolias, maples, thus exalting the difference between the native vegetation and the arranged decorative nature. But roses are the real garden attraction, since a long ago marqess Umberta Patrizi first felt in love with this flower, Castel Giuliano has been turning into one of the best known private Italian rose garden. The visit to Castle Orsini-Odescalchi depends upon time availability. The castel set in Bracciano is a major sample in Italy of impressing military defensive work, in which military and civil architectures of the late fifteenth century melt together forming a proper Renaissance court. Inside the castle it is possible to admire an important collection of fresco paintings, weapons and chinaware, as well as the restored original architecture with wide fireplaces, endless celeing, wood pavements and ancient fornitures.
5th day –BRACCIANO – guided tour of BOTANIC GARDENS OF STIGLIANO
These botanic gardens are also property of marquess Umberta Patrizi Montoro.
It is a unique place for its nine different thermal springs and two rivers flowing across. In its thousand-year history Stigliano had been elected by the Romoans as the official thermal residence and later on in the eighteenth century was brought back to its glorious past when the thermal baths were open again to pubblic. This day the place shows its ancient splendours and the thermal waters flowing undersoil made the vegetation of Stigliano extremely luxuriant. The Latium microclimate also helps native plant life of the park to proliferate in a great variety of exclusive endemic specimens able to flower each season always with a different seasonal flowering. The park, which extends over 20 hectares, has been fully restored by the marquess Umberta Patrizi and includes maples, holm oaks, old-aged oaks, hazel trees, tamerisks, giant bamboos, and finally Roman pine trees.