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 complex of Valsanzibio was brought to its contemporary magnificence in the second half of the XVIIth century by the Venetian noble Giovani Francesco Barbarigo, assisted by his sons Antonio and Gregorio. In fact, it was this last son, the first-born, Gregorio – Cardinal and Bishop of Padua and future saint – who inspired the symbolic meaning of the plan drawn by Luigi Bernini – the top Vatican architect and fountain expert. The then Cardinal Gregorio Barbarigo, as the result of a solemn ‘vow’ made by his Father to our God in 1631, desired the garden of Valsanzibio to be a monumental, symbolic pathway to perfection; a journey that brings man from the false to the truth, from ignorance to revelation.
This exceptional example of baroque gardens consists of more than 60 statues which were engraved in Istria stone by the Merengo. There are also many other different minor sculptures that integrate into a world of architecture, streams, waterfalls, fountains, small ponds, water games and fish ponds; all positioned among hundreds of different trees and plants, over an area of more than 10 hectares.
Furthermore, inside the monumental complex and representing an essential stage within the itinerary of salvation, there is the centuries-old Boxwood Labyrinth, the symbolic Hermit’s Grotto, the Rabbit Island and the Monument to Time.
