Last updated on 23 October 09

Villa Garzoni

2.0/5 (2 ratings)

Villa Garzoni by matalyn
Villa Garzoni by fdecomite
Photograph © Oxford Botanica/Adam Hodge
Photograph © Oxford Botanica/Adam Hodge
Photograph © Oxford Botanica/Adam Hodge
Photograph © Oxford Botanica/Adam Hodge

Gardenvisit Editorial

An ornamented baroque spectacle in a bucolic valley. The garden rises from a semi-circular parterre, through terraced flights of steps to a water cascade, thrusting into the woods. The cascade widens as it ascends the hill, making it more dramatic when seen from below and more extensive when seen from above. A heroic terracotta statue of Fame waves gaily from a highpoint in the garden. Behind her is a bath house which once had a music room and every kind of luxury for male and female bathers - who chatted merrily without, it is said, seeing one another. Overall, the garden displays a fine baroque transition from cultivated to wild. Before leadership in the art of garden passes to France, readers may pause to reflect on the difference between the Garzoni garden, which reveals itself all at once, as a picture, with the two-centuries older Medici garden at Careggi, secreted behind its medieval walls. They stand for Italian garden design in the early and late Renaissance.

Address - Collodi, nr Lucca, Tuscany, Italy
Opening times - All year. Daily except Sundays from November to February. Open 8:30am to sunset (except weekdays November to February open 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm).
Website - Visit the Villa Garzoni website

Local Hotels

Hotels within 30km as the crow flies from this garden.

Villa Delle Rose (2km away)
From €54.00 to €160.00
Tenuta San Pietro Luxury Hotel (3km away)
From €180.00 to €395.00
Relais Del Lago (3km away)
From €53.00 to €250.00
Borgo La Torre (6km away)
From €90.00 to €140.00
Grand Hotel Croce Di Malta (7km away)
From €83.00 to €320.00
Grand Hotel Plaza & Locanda Maggiore (7km away)
From €69.00 to €140.00
Grand Hotel Tamerici & Principe (7km away)
From €80.00 to €210.00
Mediterraneo (7km away)
From €39.00 to €215.00

Nearby Gardens

Gardens within 30km as the crow flies from this garden.

Parco di Pinocchio (0km away)
(3.0/5)
Hesperidarium Citrus Garden (2km away)
Villa Torrigiani Garden (3km away)
(3.0/5)
Mansi Villa Garden (4km away)
Villa Grabau Garden (6km away)
(1.0/5)
Marlia Villa Reale Garden (6km away)
(4.8/5)
Villa Celle Giardino (22km away)

Reviews and Comments

Have you visited this garden?

over 1 year ago Charles Hawes said
I visited In October 2010. An altogether miserable experience. The lower part of the garden is a mess both in design and in recent changes and additions. A very ugly building to one side housed comatose and dead butterflies and insects. The maintenance throughout the garden was awful. Rubbish everywhere. The beautiful original renaissance architecture of the stunning central staircase was overwhelmed by the garden's general neglect. An expensive (13 Euros) outrage

(1.0/5)
about 4 years ago Adam Hodge said
What a bizarre place. In ways it has lots of potential but needs some more funding to get it up to scratch. Plenty of charming things to see but alot is a bit tired.

(3.0/5)

See all the reviews of Villa Garzoni

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