The Gardens won th prize
The Gardens are proudly part of
in collaboration with
A Relais in the heart of the most beautiful park in Italy
Guests of Villa della Pergola have the unique opportunity to stay inside a Botanical Park: The Gardens of Villa della Pergola, winners of the Most Beautiful Park in Italy 2020/2022 award. The Gardens surround the Relais with their typical Mediterranean vegetation and thousands of flowers, essences and rare plants of the exotic flora and are available to guests who can enjoy them freely, looking for a secret corner where they can relax, read a book, admire the magic of nature and rediscover its profound contact.
Born at the end of the nineteenth century and saved in 2006 from building speculation, after careful recovery and a long restoration, the Park which enjoys an incomparable view of the sea now houses renowned and precious botanical collections. Famous are that of wisteria, over 40 varieties for the most important Italian collection, and that of agapanthus, a unique collection in Europe which at the time of flowering, with over 500 different varieties and thousands of specimens, in June and July creates a spectacular tide of white, blue and light blue shades.
The recovery of the Gardens
Having averted the risk of seeing an inestimable historical and naturalistic heritage erased, following the rescue intervention of the Villas and the Park, the famous landscape architect Paolo Pejrone was entrusted with the important restoration of the 22 thousand square meters of the Gardens.
In addition to pruning and taking care of the majestic surviving trees, it was necessary to proceed with an initial radical cleaning of the Park from debris, weeds and anything else that had accumulated over time: a cleaning that lasted six months.
The cleaning interventions brought to light the collapses of the dry stone walls and the structural problems. The first phase of the restoration therefore involved the safety and reconstruction of most of the supporting walls, as well as the complete creation of an irrigation system and water conveyance, in order to limit water consumption as much as possible.
By studying old photographs from the Dalrymple and Hanbury periods, a conservative restoration intervention was initiated without giving up conscious changes, in the belief that a large historic park is first of all a living being that changes and transforms over time.
Particular attention was then given to the recovery, conservation and, together with Silvia Arnaud Ricci, the creation of the renowned botanical collections among the most important in Europe and famous throughout the world.
Returned to the community in 2012, after six years of uninterrupted work, today the Park has surpassed its ancient splendor, confirming itself as one of the botanical wonders of the Riviera and the Mediterranean.
