THE "THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PARK IN ITALY" CONTEST.
SELECTED THE TWO 2017 WINNERS:
VILLA DURAZZO PALLAVICINI IN GENOA PEGLI
AND VILLA LA FOCE IN VAL D'ORCIA
The names of the two winners, category public parks and category private parks, of the 15th edition of the competition promoted by the network ilparcopiubello.it, which awards the most enchanting green Italian beauties, are official.
Villa Durazzo Pallavicini in Genoa Pegli and Villa La Foce in Val d'Orcia (Chianciano Terme, Siena): these two naturalistic jewels were carefully selected by the Scientific Committee of the "Most Beautiful Park in Italy" Award as winners of the 15th edition of the competition. More than 1,000 participants, registered in the network of the most beautiful parks in Italy and featured in the online guide "ilparcopiubello.it," which for more than 15 years has been promoting green tourism to discover Italy's landscape and botanical heritage.
So here are the two winners of the 15th edition of the Most Beautiful Park in Italy Award:
Villa Durazzo Pallavicini in Genoa-Pegli
"Public Parks" category
Considered to be one of the most original romantic parks in the world, the park of Villa Durazzo Pallavicini, commissioned by Marquis Ignazio Pallavicini, was conceived and built in 1840 by stage designer Michele Canzio. The result was not only a park in the Romantic style, but an itinerary composed of sets linked to each other by a narrative trail: the Classic Avenue, the Coffee House, the Triumphal Arch, the Hermit's House, the Grottoes, the Great Lake with the Chinese Pagoda, the Temple of Diana, the Roman Bridge, the Flora Gardens, the Gazebo of Roses; all in a picturesque landscape realization meticulously composed in its architectural and plant elements and ordered according to a precise route with esoteric contents. There is no shortage of plant specimens of great botanical-landscape value: the monumental camphor tree flanked by the cedar of Lebanon placed at the edge of the lake, the collection of exotic palms, the centuries-old araucaria and cork tree, the banksia rose and the cherry laurel tree; particularly outstanding among them all is the collection of ancient camellias, some of which are over 100 years old, which every spring constitutes a real attraction with its peculiar flowering.
Via Ignazio Pallavicini 13, 16155 Genoa
Open from March to October
Single ticket €10.00, concessions €8.00, children €5.00
Villa La Foce in Val d'Orcia (Chianciano Terme, Siena)
"Private Parks" category
Villa La Foce and its extraordinary garden are strongly linked to Iris Cutting, who, with her husband Marquis Antonio Origo, decided to move here after their marriage in the 1920s; English landscape architect Cecil Pinsent was commissioned for the work-which continued until 1939-for which he was inspired by the formal gardens of the classical Italian tradition.
The house is surrounded by a formal garden divided into "rooms" by box hedges, with lemon plants in terracotta pots. Travertine steps lead to the rose garden and a wisteria-covered pergola bordered by lavender hedges. Terraced slopes rise gently up the hill, where cherry, pine, and cypress trees grow among wild broom, thyme, and rosemary, and a long avenue of cypress trees leads to a 17th-century stone statue. A path runs through the woods and connects the garden with the family cemetery, considered one of Pinsent's finest creations.
Victory Road 61, 53042 Chianciano Terme (Siena)
Open garden from March to October on Wednesday afternoons, Saturdays and Sundays.
Single ticket €10.00, free up to 12 years old.
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In selecting the winners, the Scientific Committee evaluated the parameters stipulated in the Competition rules: historical-artistic and botanical interest, state of preservation, aspects related to management and maintenance, accessibility, presence of services, public relations and tourism promotion.
The jury consists of six experts in the field: Vincenzo Cazzato (president, University of Salento, for many years coordinator of the Ministerial Committee for the Study and Conservation of Historic Gardens), Alberta Campitelli (former director of the Office for Villas and Historic Parks of the Superintendency of Cultural Heritage of the City of Rome), Marcello Fagiolo (former Chairman of the National Committee for the Study and Conservation of Historic Gardens), Ines Romitti (landscape architect AIAPP-IFLA), Luigi Zangheri (former Chairman of the International Scientific Committee for Cultural Landscapes ICOMOS-IFLA), Margherita Azzi Visentini (Politecnico di Milano; Istituto Veneto di Lettere, Scienze ed Arti).
Motivations of the Jury
Villa Pallavicini in Pegli
The park of Villa Pallavicini in Pegli that Marquis Ignazio had built by Michele Canzio constitutes one of the highest expressions of 19th-century romantic gardens, with a precise scenic layout designed like a play divided into acts, with a prologue and epilogue. Recently returned to its original appearance thanks to the commitment of the City of Genoa through an impressive and careful restoration that has led to the recomposition of the plant scenes and the reconstruction of the paths (as part of a program that has also involved other urban parks), it is notable for the careful and competent management entrusted in concession to a temporary grouping of companies comprising within it high-level professionals-which provides for the routine maintenance and progressive completion of the restoration and enhancement of the existing heritage and, in collaboration with the municipal administration, the recovery of architecture and furnishings that have not yet been restored.
Villa La Foce in Val d'Orcia
The garden of Villa La Foce constitutes an interesting example of a twentieth-century designer garden, created by Cecil Pinsent in the 1920s-1930s drawing inspiration from the humanistic ideal of Renaissance gardens, with an organization of space into terraces and green rooms scenographically connected by stairways and passageways. The garden, an exceptional example of harmony and beauty, establishes a unique relationship with the surrounding landscape made up of the splendid scenery of the Val d'Orcia and tells the story of the Origo family - which has taken exemplary care of its maintenance over time - and in particular of a woman, Iris, a writer of Irish mother and American father.
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"The Most Beautiful Park" for over fifteen years has been selecting public and private parks and gardens that can be visited in order to promote nationally and internationally a quality "green tourism" that allows the general public to discover this precious heritage to date still little known. The "The Most Beautiful Park in Italy" network, which has more than 1,000 enchanting places throughout Italy, is active with all visit information, events and more in the online guide www.ilparcopiubello.it and on the "The Most Beautiful Park" Facebook and Twitter pages.
www.ilparcopiubello.it
What is The Most Beautiful Park in Italy Award.
"The Most Beautiful Park" is a national competition dedicated to parks and gardens, which aims to enhance the priceless heritage of parks and gardens in our peninsula, helping to stimulate interest in and awareness of greenery in its most exalted forms.
All the parks affiliated with the network of the Most Beautiful Parks in Italy (www.ilparcopiubello.it), to date more than 1,000 entities, participate in the competition, from which excellencies are selected each year taking into account historical-artistic, botanical aspects, state of conservation, maintenance and management program, presence of adequate services, accessibility and user information.
The Prize aims to promote the culture and knowledge of this priceless heritage of ours, to make such assets appreciable not only by a small circle of specialists, but especially by young people and a wide national and international audience. The competition is now in its fifteenth edition and, since it is the only Prize in Italy in the field of parks and gardens, it is enjoying increasing interest and success. This is evidenced by both the number and quality of participating gardens and the attention from the national press and media, which has been steadily growing over the past few years.
We recall the winners of previous editions: the Garden of Villa Barbarigo in Valsanzibio (2003), the Garden of La Mortella in Ischia (2004), the Gardens of Castel Trauttmansdorff in Merano (2005), Villa d'Este in Tivoli (2006),Isola Bella on Lake Maggiore (2007), Villa Pisani in Stra (2008), the Reggia di Caserta (2009) the Racconigi Castle Park (2010), the Villa Lante Garden (2011), the Vittoriale degli Italiani (2012), The Sigurtà Garden Park (cat. Private Parks 2013) and the Garden of Villa Medicea di Castello (cat. Public Parks 2013), Villa San Michele in Capri (cat. Private Parks 2014) and the Real Bosco di Capodimonte in Naples (cat. Public Parks 2014), the Garden of Ninfa in Cisterna di Latina (cat. Private Parks 2015) and Villa Medici in Rome (cat. Public Parks 2015) - Popular Winner 2015 Villa Serra (Sant'Olcese, Genoa), Villa Litta in Lainate (cat. Public Parks 2016) and Villa Melzi d'Eril in Bellagio (cat. Private Parks 2016).
The Most Beautiful Park Competition-an initiative of architect Leandro Mastria, President of the Organizing Secretariat-has the patronage of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, the Ministry of the Environment, UNESCO, ACI, and the membership of FAI (Fondo per l'Ambiente Italiano) and AIAPP (Associazione Italiana di Architettura del Paesaggio).