Monumental Garden of Valsanzibio

Superficie : 100 000 m² (jardin allégorique) – 120 000 m² au total
Date de création : 1665
Paysagiste : Luigi Bernini
Style : Baroque

Labels : Historical monument, allegorical/symbolic garden, monument protected by the Ministry of Fine Arts

The Monumental Garden of Valsanzibio was created based on plan drawn by the Vatican Architect and ‘Water Engineer’ Luigi Bernini following a vow made by the Barbarigo family to ward off the plague of 1630/31. Cardinal Gregorio Barbarigo, later Bishop of Padua and future Saint, inspired the garden’s high symbolism by commissioning Bernini to create an allegorical path of purification that would be a monumental emblem of the iter perfectionis that leads man from Error to Truth, from Ignorance to Revelation.

The best preserved allegorical/symbolic garden in the world; Over 60 statues and as many smaller sculptures in Istrian stone sculpted by Merengo; A ‘Water Garden’ fed by 7 sources and with 33 water points designed by Bernini: fountains, fish ponds, water tricks, streams, springs and waterfalls; The Pavilion of Diana, a monumental water entrance from Venice; The oldest plant labyrinth in the world; The Hermit’s Cave; The Rabbit Island or Garenna, the only one still existing; The Monument to Time; The Sonnet Staircase; The Square of the Revelations; Over 100 species of plants from all over the world between 150 and 900 years old! The highest concentration (60,000 square meters), the oldest (over 400 years) and the largest (over 5 meters) evergreen boxwood plants in the world; The presence of plants from the ‘New World’ (the Americas) considered among the oldest in Europe; Introduction of the ‘perspective’ for the first time in Garden Architecture.