Ninfa and the Finest Private Gardens around Rome
12 - 16th May 2008

Tuesday 13th May - La Ferriera, Capalbio
After an early flight to Rome’s Fiumicino Airport, we drive north to La Ferriera, for lunch followed by a tour of the garden.  Contessa Giuppi Pietromarchi is a skilled plantswoman and the author of a book on the garden at Ninfa.  The house faces an avenue of stone pines leading down to the sixteenth century iron foundry from which the garden takes its name.  Great swathes of banksian roses cover the buildings and shrub roses, Agapanthus africanus, Hydrangeas and Clerodendrons are planted under olive trees. Elsewhere, secret rooms contain a herb garden and a mysterious grove of black bamboos. This is the classic Italian garden in the hands of a master gardener.  From La Ferriera we drive to Frascati and check into our hotel

Wednesday 14th May - Valleranello and Landriana
The myth that all good twentieth century Italian gardens are created by foreigners is instantly dispelled by the garden at Valleranello.  This is not a garden that you would ever expect to see in Italy; it is wild and informal, roses grow in profusion over pergolas and up trees, and are under planted with perennials and shrubs by a sure-handed gardener.  From Valleranello we drive to Landriana for lunch by the villa followed by a tour of the garden. Landriana was a collaborative effort from 1967 between the designer Russell Page and the owner, Marchesa Lavinia Taverna.  The result is a wonderful combination of plantsmanship and good design as formal rooms with clipped bay hedges and orange trees by the house, give way to an informal planting of Alliums, Salvia, Phlomis and Tulbergia in an olive grove, and specimen trees around the lake.
 

Thursday 15th May - Ninfa and Luigi Muratori Garden
The famous garden at Ninfa is the extraordinary creation of three generations of the Caetani family who incorporated a ruined medieval town, which had been in their family since the thirteenth century, into one of the most beautiful gardens in the world.  The fertile volcanic soil and a very favourable microclimate ensure the astonishing growth of shrubs and trees throughout the garden. Gin-clear water flows in abundance through the luxurious planting that clothes the ruined towers and churches of the town. Roses riot over the old stone walls of houses and churches, one of which saw the coronation of a pope in 1159. Elsewhere Wisteria, draped over bridges, is reflected in the fast-flowing streams. We will be given lunch in the garden after the tour. On our way back to Frascati we have been invited to see a contemporary garden, well known for its planting and diversity, just south of Rome.   Hydrangeas line the drive under the stone pines, roses crowd over a pergola in front of the house, a long shrub border wraps around a paddock where the family keep their horses, and lotus and water lilies fill an informal pool.                                   

Friday 16th May - The Recrosio Garden, Castello Ruspoli and the Portoghesi Garden
We check out of our hotel and drive to the north of Rome at the invitation of Gabriella Recrosio, who has created a garden that combines the structure that you would expect from an architect, with a wonderful feeling for plants and plant combination. Rare South African irises brush shoulders with tender Salvias; a pepper tree, Schinus molle, with its weeping feathery foliage, shades hedges of tightly clipped juniper. We drive north to Castello Ruspoli. The garden, which lies below the castle is designed to be seen from the main reception rooms, where we will lunch. With its clipped box, laurel and rosemary hedges and lemon trees in pots, it is a superb example of an Italian formal parterre.  The last garden of the day is the creation of the eminent architect Paolo Portoghesi. The garden, while being totally contemporary, pays homage to Renaissance gardens and architects. The formality of the entrance courtyard is balanced by the tranquillity of the upper garden set among old olive trees. We check into our second hotel which lies in the midst of enchanting countryside north of Rome.


Saturday 17th May - Palazzo Patrizi, Castel Giuliano
We check out of our hotel and drive to Palazzo Patrizi, Castel Giuliano, where the garden is the creation of the present Marchesa Umberta Patrizi.  It is dominated by spectacular stone pines, growing extraordinarily over the remains of Etruscan tombs.   However, the Marchesa’s real passion is her collection of roses, which soften the walls of the castle, scramble through the trees, and grow in wide borders with Ceanothus, myrtle, peonies and foxgloves.  After lunch at Castel Giuliano, we drive to Fiumicino Airport for a late afternoon flight to London.

TOTAL COST
This exclusive tour is an opportunity to see some very private gardens accompanied by their owners and creators, alongside two of the great gardens of the twentieth century; Landriana and Ninfa.  In order to enjoy these gardens at their best the size of the group will be restricted.

The five days, with three nights at four star Hotel Flora in Frascati and one at the four star Grand Hotel, Stigliano (two people sharing), all lunches in the gardens, drinks on the roof terrace on the first evening and a final dinner at Stigliano, all entrance fees and tours of the gardens with James Bolton and the owners, and travel by luxury air conditioned coach, will cost £1,375.00 per person (airfares are not included).  For anyone requiring a single room, there will be a single supplement of £115.00.