La Botanical Treasure Hunt is conceived and organized by the network Great Italian Gardens and is dedicated to adults and children, to introduce leaf by leaf – the trees and plants present in the parks.
While the little ones are engaged in the Botanical Treasure Hunt, special guided tours are offered for parents and all adults to discover the gardens, with the possibility of participating in wine tastings or art exhibitions in progress in the various Great Italian Gardens .
A day to enjoy a moment of celebration and at the same time enjoy the beauty of nature and Italian gardens, fascinating to enter the romantic literature of all times.
For those on holiday in Florence, will be able to enjoy the beauty of the Bardini garden and a belvedere over Florence: 4 hectares of park between the left bank of the Arno, the Montecuccoli hill and the medieval walls. Originally it was a system of walled gardens towards Palazzo Mozzi and on the hill behind. In 2000, the Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze, through the Bardini and Peyron Monumental Parks Foundation, began the restoration of the complex, which lasted almost five years, to restore the garden's identity, compositional and vegetal richness. In the agricultural park, where traditional Tuscan fruit trees have been planted, there is a rondo-belvedere from which you can walk through a tunnel of wisteria and admire as many as 60 varieties of hydrangeas. The Baroque staircase is the most scenic part of the garden with the Belvedere overlooking the city and the six fountains with multi-material mosaic backdrops. Bourbon roses and remontant irises have been planted along the staircase; in the lower part you can visit a garden with borders of herbaceous and graminaceous plants and the green theater obtained in a basin. In the English wood, which was part of the Anglo-Chinese garden, there is the meadow of azaleas, with ferns, viburnums, camellias and a collection of citrus fruits. From via de' Bardi the path winds uphill towards the villa and allows you to admire both the garden and the monuments of Florence.
And in homage to Gabriele D'Annunzio, you can see the Vittoriale of Gardone Riviera (Brescia, monumental citadel of Gabriele d'Annunzio which preserves the evidence of his "inimitable life". It was built with the help of the Trentino architect Gian Carlo Maroni on a hill overlooking Lake Garda and includes streets, squares, gardens, building complexes, waterways and an open-air theatre. Nature and Art are one between apparitions, symbols, curious perspectives, enhanced by a profusion of oleanders, palm trees, acanthus, rhododendrons, many cypresses and olive trees between laurel and myrtle hedges, while the geometry of the terraces of an ancient lemon house surprisingly coexists with the sensuality of a rose garden.
While in Vescovana (Padua) Villa Pisani Bolognesi Scalabrin is no less, a charming residence that saw illustrious guests such as the Empress of Germany, the Queen of Sweden, Lord Bayron and Henry James. It is a large formal garden with box hedges and sculptures, in which the elaborate Victorian taste blends with the tradition of the Italian garden. Around the Villa the highly architectural layout is characterized by a marked axiality which gradually dissolves into the naturalness of the surrounding park. An extraordinary creation, inspired by "The Formal Garden in England" by Sir Reginald Blomfield, published in London in 1892. Statues, fountains, the old ice house, the rock garden, the Theater and the family Chapel, an important example of Elizabethan neo-Gothic, make up and complete the decor of the large garden and the park populated by secular trees.
In this flowery Easter Monday, 32 gardens will participate in the event, from Piedmont to Sicily:
Piemonte
Villa Ottolenghi Wedekind (Acqui Terme, AL)
Villa Badia (Sezzadio, AL)
Miradolo Castle (San Secondo di Pinerolo, TO)
Oasi Zegna (Trivero, BI)
Lombardia
Park of Villa Carcano (Anzano del Parco, CO)
Park of the Minoprio Foundation (Vertemate con Minoprio, CO)
Villa del Grumello (Como)
Villa Carlotta (Tremezzina, CO)
Gardens of Villa Melzi d'Eril (Bellagio, CO)
Rossini Art Site (Briosco, MB)
Gardens of Villa Monastero (Varenna, LC)
Brera Botanical Garden (Milan)
Heller Botanical Garden (Gardone Riviera, BS)
The Vittoriale degli Italiani (Gardone Riviera, BS)
Fortress of Lonato del Garda (Lonato del Garda, BS)
Angelo and Lina Nocivelli Botanical Park (Verolanuova, BS)
In Isola del Garda (S. Felice del Benaco, BS) the Botanical Treasure Hunt will be held on 25 April
Veneto
Castle of Roncade (Roncade, TV)
Castle of San Pelagio (Due Carrare, PD)
Villa Pisani Bolognesi Scalabrin (Vescovana, PD)
Villa Trissino Marzotto (Trissino, VI)
Trentino Alto Adige
Trauttmansdorff Castle Gardens (Merano, BZ)
Liguria
Villa Serra (Sant'Olcese, GE)
Emilia Romagna
Masone labyrinth (Fontanellato, PR)
Toscana
Bardini Garden (Florence)
Park of the Royal Villa of Marlia (Marlia, LU)
Garzoni Historical Garden (Collodi, PT)
Lazio
Rose Garden Vacunae Rosae (Roccantica, RI)
Ruspoli Castle (Vignanello, VT)
Moutan Botanical Center (Vitorchiano, VT)
Marche
Seghetti Panichi Historical Park (Castel di Lama, AP)
Sicilia
Botanical Garden of Catania (Catania)
