The Giusti Garden is one of the most beautiful late renaissance Italian gardens, which belongs to and is the splendid annex to Giusti Palace. Began at the end of the sixteenth century, the garden was gradually improved and completed.
Vallotto wrote of the magnificence of the garden, which he said vied with nature, and its construction, because of the solutions, combinations and other similar gardens in Florence, Fiesole and Rome, had to be defined as “Italian style”. The Second World War hit this garden hard. Plants were overturned and uprooted and terribly damaged, and it is not taken into consideration whether they were common plants or precious varieties. Currently, given the continuous care that has been provided, the Garden has been restored to its former beauty. The statues aligned among the tall cypress trees, the marble memories of past ages, the fountains with their trickle of water, the tubs covered with moss, where water lilies float, stress and give importance to this Garden, which has rightly been declared a National Monument.
Contrary to similar gardens in other cities, where the villa rises on the summit of a hill, this garden was conceived inversely: the dwelling is on the lower level, with a courtyard, while the majestic central pathway leads up towards the “belvedere”, and from there to the summit of the hill, which offers the visitor a magnificent panoramic view of the city.
The great cypress-lined path, which Goethe praised profusely, divides the garden into two distinct parts, forming on the right a woody area that leads tot he belvedere, while on the opposite side there is the Italian garden.
A high romantic cloister or loggia towers above, which bears historical inscriptions on the inside, some of which are important. The central cypress line path divides the garden area from the wooded area and leads to a terrace with a grotto. From here, there are stairways for paths, and you climb up to the belvedere. The garden – as all renaissance gardens of the time – is animated with statues, among which there is the one of the fish pond, by Alessandro Vittoria, which Maffei describes and beautiful suitable for Roman monuments.
GIARDINO DI PALAZZO GIUSTI
Via Giardino Giusti 2
Tel./Fax 045.8034029
Opening time:
winter 9.00 a.m. to sunset
summer 9.00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m.
