Italian Renaissance Gardens in America

For some, the ideal trip to Italy wouldn’t be complete without a visit to a few of its exquisite gardens‚Äîamong them, Hadrian’s Villa and the UNESCO world heritage site Villa d’Este, both in Tivoli; the Medici’s glorious Boboli Gardens; and the exquisite gardens of Lake Como. For those in the U.S., visiting an Italian Renaissance Garden doesn’t require a passport.

The Italian Renaissance Garden

The design of the Italian Renaissance garden focused on a humanistic perspective by providing a retreat that appealed to multiple senses. Symmetry and order were important aspects, and the garden become formal, inviting, and surprising. Water features, lined paths, geometric shapes, and defined plantings welcomed contemplation; and grottoes, statuary, and topiaries added the unexpected.

The classic style of the Italian Renaissance garden has impressed horticulturists, landscape architects, artists, writers, and the aristocratic, causing them to design, paint, write about, and create Italian gardens throughout the world.; and some of the most beautiful are located in public gardens in the United States.

The Mount, Massachusetts

The terraced gardens, columns, walls, arches, fountains, statuary, symmetry, and amphitheaters of Italy’s gardens were the subject of novelist Edith Wharton’s 1904 book, Italian Villas and Their Gardens, and the inspiration for The Mount, her estate and gardens in Lenox, Massachusetts. Wharton visited fifty villas in Italy while researching her book, and designed her gardens with the philosophy that the garden should adapt to its surroundings‚Äîthe plants, trees, fountains, pools, and statuary must be a suitable fit for the climate and the structure of the land. The Mount is open May through December and garden tours are offered from June to September

Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania

In 1906, Pierre du Pont purchased a little over 1,000 acres, and began to create Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. The Italian Water Garden, inspired by Villa Gamberaia in Tuscany, was designed around 18 small and large tiled pools, with fountains that use recirculating water in 600 jets.

The Main Fountain Garden—five acres of illuminated fountains set to music during the Festival of Fountains—was also inspired by Italian garden design. Longwood Gardens is open year round and group tours are available.

Vanderbilt Mansions, New York and North Carolina

The Formal Italian Garden of the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park, New York has three pools and three levels of plantings—perennials, annuals, and roses—surrounded by trees, columns, and statues. The mansion, a seasonal home of Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt, was used primarily from spring to fall, but Mr. Vanderbilt maintained contact with his head gardener year round. The garden, started in 1903, was the source of many prized plants and flowers, awarded through the annual Dutchess County Fair. The grounds of the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park are free and open daily.

The Biltmore in Asheville, North Carolina‚Äîbuilt by Frederick’s brother, George‚Äîwas designed with its Italian Garden close to the mansion. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, landscape architect of Central Park in New York City, the Italian Garden, with a stone retaining wall sheltering three pools and mountain vistas, is considered one of the properties ‚”pleasure gardens.” Biltmore is open year round, and a land tour is offered.

Maymont, Virginia

The Italian Garden of Maymont, in Richmond, Virginia was completed in 1910 for Major James H. Dooley, a prosperous businessman, and his wife. Now part of the city’s public park system, much of Maymont has been restored. The Italian Garden features a wisteria-covered pergola leading to a domed gazebo, terraced slopes, multi-tiered fountains, statuary, and patterned beds, with a view overlooking the James River. The grounds of Maymont are free and open year round.

Italian Cultural Garden, Ohio

The Italian Cultural Garden, in Rockefeller Park, is part of the Cleveland Cultural Gardens Federation. The Italian Renaissance garden‚Äîon two levels‚Äîfeatures fountains, winding staircases, an enclosed courtyard, and tributes to some of the Italians that have contributed so much to the world. Each year, the Garden is host to ‚”Opera in the Italian Cultural Garden,” a free event. The garden is open year round.

Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, Florida

A National Historic Landmark, Vizcaya was the winter home of industrialist and developer James Deering. The mansion, built in 1914 to 1922, reassembles a luxurious Italian villa and the grounds were designed to include a maze garden, secret garden, stone bridge in Biscayne Bay, and numerous statues. Vizcaya is open everyday except Christmas, and group tours are offered.

Villa Terrace, Wisconsin

Inspired by architecture on a trip to Italy, industrialist Lloyd R. Smith commissioned the building of Villa Terrace in 1923. The grounds overlook Lake Michigan, and include a water stairway that transcends three terraces of crabapple trees, two secret gardens, a culinary and medicinal herb garden, and potted citrus trees.

Sources

The Italian Renaissance Garden by Claudia Lazzaro

Perspective on Garden Histories by Michel Conan

The Mount

Longwood Gardens

F.W. Vanderbilt Garden Association

clevelandmemory.org

Vizcaya Museum & GardensVilla Terrace Decorative Arts Museum