History
The Bortolotti Garden is a unique creation of a singular nature. Known as dei Ciucioi (from the German ''at the customs''), it is an exemplary representation of the peculiarity of green architecture in the Alpine context. Transformed into an unexpected green setting, even the rocky cliffs of Doss Paion overlooking the town of Lavis are the scene of a symbolic narration that makes an unmistakable mark in the landscape. After years of restoration, the Municipality of Lavis opened this priceless treasure to the public in 2019. The complex bears the name of its creator, Tommaso Bortolotti (Lavis, 1796-1872), who devoted every resource to the realisation of his visionary project. Building, which began on the lower terraces in the 1830s, continued in the following 20 years with the construction of a large pergola greenhouse. The completion of the upper levels with the backdrop architectures of the ''church'' and the ''palace'' can be dated to the period 1855-1872 and expansion in the western area with the ''gardener's house'' and the ''castle'', which are today's designations related the reading of the site by the architects who oversaw the restoration. After the owner's death, the architecture remained substantially intact until the first decades of the twentieth century. The garden, subject to numerous changes of ownership, lost its formal characteristics with overgrown vegetation, widespread collapse of the terraces, and washing away of the plastering that defined the scenery.
The former entrance leads to the walkway dating back to the time of the ''gardener's house''. The path gives access to the individual terraces and allows a view of the ''church'', the ''castle'', and the ''palace''. Behind the palace facade, a huge water collection tank fed the garden's pools and fountains with a system for falling from top to bottom.
Going up from the first levels, visitors can reach the various areas of the garden up to the greenhouse. From here, stairs carved into the rock give access to the upper levels and the ''church'' or, with narrow passages, to the terrace and the tower. Beyond, you reach the top of the hill.
An extraordinary vertical landscape resting on the porphyry of a mediaeval quarry, the Bortolotti Garden is a mysterious place, a sort of ideal city sprung from the rock in an admirable union between artifice and nature.
