The gardens of Rome exist in the constraint of a bustling modern city today --- just as they did 2000 years ago. This land has always had more practical use, and yet these gardens are still here, being enjoyed. Nature, fresh air, quiet, beauty, privacy -- the more bustle that passes garden gates, the more necessary the antidote.
Garden visits are designed to communicate a privilege, and this, too, has always been part of any Rome garden invitation. There were no chairs at Villa Borghese; invited guests were exhausted by the time they saw all the wealth. Medieval monks planted their paradise only behind high walls. Agostino Chigi built a garden room at the Tiber and after dinners, he’d urge guests to throw their gold plates into the river (he dredged his beach regularly so this excess cost him nothing ---but the story had long legs). The Torlonias developed their French-styled villa while doing business with the French, and developed the English garden around it when wooing Anglo business. Julius lived with Cleopatra in a wood on the Janiculum-- she didn’t feel at home for long! Napoleon cleared a Roman wood to build greenhouses so he could re-landscape the city (his ambition was to conquer even Mother Nature, it seems). Hilter first met Mussolini under Nero’s aqueduct, still flowing, 2000 years after its construction, with imperial water.
Fortunately, these same landscapes can been seen today. Not every angle in every garden is as it was even five years ago, but in this modern, world-class city, it is still a fascinating contrast to the life on the surrounding streets. Each day, in each garden, is different but, in poetic moments, you can often feel the wind from a butterfly’s wing whose ancestor might have changed the course of history.
All photos by Lisa Finerty. Permission required for use.
GARDENS OF ROME
