Giardini di Palazzo Farnese

By car
From the A1 take the exit Magliano Sabina direction in Civita Castellana. Continue on SS3 Until Your DESTINATION in Caprarola.

By plane
Distance Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport: 86km

On the bus
Cotral Line from Rome or Viterbo

The whole Villa Farnese complex in Caprarola was designed by the architect Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola, under commission from Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. There is a close topographic and stylistic relation between the building and its gardens: the “Lower Gardens” and the “Upper Gardens” are part of a single concept, even though they have come down to us having undergone a series of modifications. In the gardens set behind the villa, Vignola created the kind of synthesis between nature and architectonic artifice typical of 16th and early 17th century villas in Lazio, using springs in the hills to feed the fountains and drawing on his experience in France for the gardens' decorative elements. He made space for the “lower”, or “secret” gardens by excavating the hillside and arranged them in square shapes, echoed by a series of smaller squares within squares in the layout of the flowerbeds. In relation to the overall complex, the prospective lines of the two secret gardens spread out in a fan-shape from the north-western and south-eastern facades of the Villa and culminate – across drawbridges – in the two fountains known as “The Fountain of the Satyrs” and “The Fountain of Venus emerging from the ocean”. The avenue on the hill behind the main building was levelled out and planted so that Cardinal Farnese and his guests could enjoy the surrounding woodlands, the admirable variety of flowers and plants and, generally speaking, the harmonious taming of nature and its integration with architecture and decoration, and the orchestrated play of water. The final addition, executed around 1584, was the “Large Upper Gardens”, which follow the contours of the hill and contain a series of smaller fountains, with the Casina del Piacere, or Lodge of Pleasures, in the distance. The basic plan was drawn up by Vignola, but the realisation was supervised by Giacomo Del Duca, who was responsible for the Lodge of Pleasures, the Large Garden, the border flower-beds, the chain of water decorations, and the enclosure with the Fontana del Bicchiere, or Cup Fountain. In 1620 he was succeeded by Girolamo Rainaldi, who left his mark by heightening the sculptural and scenic aspects, organising the area around the ‘Caryatids', the link with the Upper Garden, the addition of the two pavilions at the beginning of the ramped borders, and various modifications to the Fontana del Bicchiere.