Following the restoration promoted and created by the Venice Gardens Foundation, it will be possible to visit the ancient Orto Giardino starting from Saturday 26 October.
The Compendium of the Redeemer's Garden, annexed to the Church of the Santissimo Redentore built by the illustrious architect Andrea Palladio at the behest of the Serenissima and entrusted to the Capuchins with apostolic license from Pope Gregory XIII as a symbol of gratitude and rebirth following the plague of 1575-1577, which extends for about a hectare, from the Giudecca canal to the Lagoon, was significantly marked by the “big water” of November 2019, an exceptional tide that, reaching 187 centimeters, devastated the city of Venice.
The Project was created by the Foundation thanks to the support of: European Union NextGenerationEU by 2 million euros (PNRR – Ministry of Culture – Restoration and enhancement of historic parks and gardens); Ministry of Culture – Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the Municipality of Venice and the Lagoon; and generous Patrons: Venice Foundation, Friends of Venice, Generali, Intesa Sanpaolo, The Guillon Family of Fondation Valmont, The Roger Thomas & Arthur Libera Family Foundation, The Venice International Foundation, Van Cleef & Arpels, Airelles, Cologni Mestieri d'Arte Foundation, Hillary Merkus Recordati Foundation, Siram Veolia, Luca Bombassei, Franca Coin, Massimo Sordella; and all those who supported Venice Gardens Foundation also through the adoption of trees and benches.
Thanks to the commitment of Adele King Rebaudengo, President and founder of Venice Gardens Foundation, The Compendium will be opened to the public for the first time tomorrow, Saturday 26 October from 13.30pm to 16.30pm, on the occasion of the inauguration to which all citizens are invited.
It will be open to visitors from Thursday to Saturday starting from October 31st and will be looked after and conserved by the Foundation itself over the years.
Visitors will be able to discover a place of great beauty, restored according to the design of Paul Pejrone, an internationally renowned gardener and landscape architect: long paths articulated to recall the symbolism of the cross, shaded by a chestnut wood pergola covered with grape plants and climbing roses accompanied by wisteria and bignonia; among the tall cypress trees, a network of paths divides the space of the olive grove, the orchard and the cultivated fields, a colourful world of herbs, vegetables, flowering borders composed of Mediterranean species, aromatic and medicinal species testifying to the ancient Garden of Simples. The Water lily pond marks the centre, the “heart” of the Garden Garden and, on the shore of the Lagoon, an unmissable destination from which to observe the sunset, the small Pittosporum garden, secluded and shady, characterised by compact, evergreen foliage and ivy and, on the water front, by a pergola covered with Rose banksiae 'Alba plena'.
Over time, a program of internationally important events (artistic, musical and literary works, narratives poetically pertinent to the spirit of the place, polyphonic songs, theatrical and dancing actions, botanical and scientific studies and research) dedicated to a wide and heterogeneous public, curated by the Venice Gardens Foundation, will contribute to promoting an intimate, attentive and moving discovery of the place. The first artistic interventions present are the works by the artist Remo Salvadori with The Hive, that welcomes visitors at the entrance to the Compendium to accompany them towards the Garden Garden. It is a work inspired by the place of the feverish harmonious work of the small social insect, from the flower to the pollen, to the solar action, the honey, the wax, the hexagonal force, the nuptial flight. Salvadori also created the covering of two hives present in the olive grove. The Antiche Officine host a video of the artist Lucia Veronesi which tells the story of the restoration of the Giardino vegetable garden through the use of photographs, videos and collages assembled in stop motionThe theme of restoration is also told by the Master's photographs Guido Guidi and Francis Black.
“In the Order's constructions, the Garden Garden has always been considered a precious asset to which great care and fruitful work must be dedicated, both for the productive aspects and for meditation and prayer” declares Paul Pejrone, architect commissioned by the Venice Gardens Foundation for the botanical restoration. “For centuries it has also represented a source of essential sustenance for community life, consisting of orchards (pomaria), herbaria (herbaria), wooded areas, referable to the forest indicated in the first Capuchin constitutions. If, in fact, the Gardens had already been lived in and loved even before the restoration, over time their overall structure had been loosened and the first objective that inspired the project was precisely that of finding a general structure that would make them cohesive, harmonious and as simple as possible in harmony with the Capuchin spirit. Each choice has sought to respond to concrete needs with the most direct, natural and immediate approach. Thus restored and entrusted to the care of the Foundation and its qualified gardeners, the Compendium is now a place of frugal and balanced beauty, rich in botanical details and lush atmospheres, but free from complacency and rhetoric”.
