0:00:02 > 0:00:04I am on the final leg of my journey through Italy,
0:00:04 > 0:00:08exploring the country's loveliest and most significant gardens
0:00:08 > 0:00:11and the ideas and history that shaped them.
0:00:13 > 0:00:17I have visited gardens that defy interpretation.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20It's like a child going, "Grrrr!"
0:00:20 > 0:00:23And I've seen others whose message couldn't be clearer.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26I've seen how the formality of the Renaissance was replaced
0:00:26 > 0:00:30by a much more natural, romantic style in the south.
0:00:30 > 0:00:31Oh, it feels nice.
0:00:33 > 0:00:38This time, I'm in the wealthy north, where the profits of trade were spent on making
0:00:38 > 0:00:42elaborate gardens, which became pleasure grounds for gentry at play.
0:00:42 > 0:00:46Oh, dead end. You've got me. Now have your wicked way!
0:00:46 > 0:00:51I'll discover how newly-introduced species helped lay the foundations
0:00:51 > 0:00:54of botany and medicine in Italy.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57And see how this influx of plants from across the world
0:00:57 > 0:01:00created gardens of high theatre.
0:01:00 > 0:01:01Fantastic!
0:01:17 > 0:01:20The north is by far the wealthiest part of Italy.
0:01:20 > 0:01:25500 years ago, it was one of the richest and most powerful regions in Europe,
0:01:25 > 0:01:27with highly productive agricultural land
0:01:27 > 0:01:31and well-established commercial links across the world.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35The north of Italy is where most of the trade has taken place from early times.
0:01:35 > 0:01:39And a lot of that trade has been in plants, particularly in the 16th and 17th century
0:01:39 > 0:01:42where they poured in from all over the world.
0:01:42 > 0:01:44They were studied extensively for their medical use,
0:01:44 > 0:01:49agricultural possibilities and, of course, just their beauty.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52So I shall be looking in particular in this trip at how plants,
0:01:52 > 0:01:56rather than politics or design, have shaped their gardens.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04The influences that helped define the gardens in the north
0:02:04 > 0:02:06were quite different to the rest of Italy
0:02:06 > 0:02:10and they take us from the 16th century right up to the present day.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13The principle garden makers of the Veneto and of Lucca
0:02:13 > 0:02:16were the hugely prosperous merchants.
0:02:16 > 0:02:21And their creations celebrate their own existence with undisguised pleasure.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24Further north, the lakes provide a dramatic setting
0:02:24 > 0:02:30and a benign microclimate to display collections of plants from all over the world.
0:02:44 > 0:02:45From the early medieval period,
0:02:45 > 0:02:50the crucial centre of Northern Italy's wealth was the independent Republic of Venice.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54As Europe's most important trading hub,
0:02:54 > 0:03:00Venice dominated the critical trade routes to the East for hundreds of years.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04Ships brought back fabulously valuable silks, gold and spices,
0:03:04 > 0:03:09and, from the early 16th century, goods and treasures also began to come in from the Americas.
0:03:13 > 0:03:17Merchants and sailors returned with unfamiliar plants and fruits
0:03:17 > 0:03:20from as far away as China and Chile.
0:03:20 > 0:03:24Including wildly exotic plants,
0:03:24 > 0:03:26such as the potato
0:03:26 > 0:03:28and the tomato.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33- Grazie.- Prego.- Grazie.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35It seems extraordinary to us now,
0:03:35 > 0:03:38when we take tomatoes for granted, but when they came in,
0:03:38 > 0:03:43they were regarded as this extraordinary plant which had
0:03:43 > 0:03:47these slightly suspicious-looking fruits which no-one dreamed of eating.
0:03:47 > 0:03:49They assumed they were poisonous.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53It was ages before someone plucked up the courage and popped them in their mouth.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57And, of course, now, everywhere in Italy lives off tomatoes.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07I am in Padua, 50 kilometres inland from Venice,
0:04:07 > 0:04:10in the wealthy hinterland of the Venetian republic,
0:04:10 > 0:04:12known as the Veneto.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16Venice has always been the dominant city of the region,
0:04:16 > 0:04:19but the most significant garden was made here in Padua.
0:04:26 > 0:04:31The Orto Botanico, made in 1543 as part of Padua University,
0:04:31 > 0:04:34is thought to be the world's oldest botanical garden.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38Initially, it was set up to study and collect "simples",
0:04:38 > 0:04:42which is the description which was then given to medicinal plants.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48The original garden lies behind this beautiful circular wall.
0:04:48 > 0:04:52But when it was first laid out, the wall wasn't there.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55And people very quickly cottoned on to the fact that these plants
0:04:55 > 0:05:00that they were laying in the beds, were potentially enormously valuable.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02They were medicinal plants, so if a cure could be found,
0:05:02 > 0:05:05somebody was going to get very rich indeed.
0:05:05 > 0:05:10So people came in and then nicked them and flogged them at great profit.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13So they put up the wall, so, what you've got to see is, actually, it's a fortress
0:05:13 > 0:05:16and the purpose of the wall is to keep people out.
0:05:28 > 0:05:34At the same time that art and architecture were being transformed in Renaissance Florence,
0:05:34 > 0:05:39scientists were laying the foundations of modern botany in Padua.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46The Orto Botanico was dedicated to studying the properties
0:05:46 > 0:05:50of newly-introduced as well as indigenous plants,
0:05:50 > 0:05:53so that they could be used safely and effectively.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59This was revolutionary, because up to that point,
0:05:59 > 0:06:03plant-based remedies had largely relied on superstition and folklore.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12Most medicine was based on the doctrine of signatories
0:06:12 > 0:06:16which basically meant that if a plant looked like an aspect of the human body,
0:06:16 > 0:06:18then it would cure it.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21So, for example, a walnut - it looks like a brain,
0:06:21 > 0:06:24so it was used to try and cure diseases of the brain,
0:06:24 > 0:06:29or Pulmonaria, lungwort that we grow, was used for lung diseases.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32In practice, that killed as many people as it cured.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36The whole point of the Renaissance was to explore and discover
0:06:36 > 0:06:40and apply the mind to science.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44So by 1533, when the Chair of Botany was set up here in Padua,
0:06:44 > 0:06:47they wanted to collect as many plants as possible,
0:06:47 > 0:06:51not just say, "It looks as though it will do this", but to find out.
0:07:01 > 0:07:06The head of the Orto Botanico, Professor Francesco Bonafede,
0:07:06 > 0:07:11realised that the first step towards understanding medicinal plants
0:07:11 > 0:07:15was to identify and classify each specimen accurately.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27You know, it's really strange,
0:07:27 > 0:07:30because this is fundamentally a filing system.
0:07:30 > 0:07:35It's a laboratory, and there is no attempt to make a beautiful garden,
0:07:35 > 0:07:39the important thing is the order and the sequence
0:07:39 > 0:07:42and the display of plants so they can be studied. And yet,
0:07:42 > 0:07:46there's a magic here, there's a real charm.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50You walk in and you're seduced, it feels wonderful,
0:07:50 > 0:07:52it's the most beautiful garden.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56I know I'm biased, of course. Of course I'm bound to love it,
0:07:56 > 0:07:58but I defy anybody not to feel that magic.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09As new plants came in, they were given a specific position
0:08:09 > 0:08:11in an elaborate network of borders.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15To learn how it works, I met the former prefect,
0:08:15 > 0:08:17Professor Elsa Cappalletti.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22This book was the first exercise book for students,
0:08:22 > 0:08:26it was a pocket book,
0:08:26 > 0:08:31in which there was the plan of the garden.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34- So this is the plan of the garden here.- With the four squares.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36Yes.
0:08:36 > 0:08:40In the past, students had to identify plants
0:08:40 > 0:08:47only observing their shape, the flowers and so on.
0:08:47 > 0:08:53And then they had to write the correct name of the plant.
0:08:53 > 0:09:00- Oh, I see.- The identity. Perhaps there was a bella donna.- OK. - And they had to write,
0:09:00 > 0:09:02"bella donna".
0:09:02 > 0:09:04So if they knew which bed the plant was in,
0:09:04 > 0:09:07- then they would know which plant it was?- Yes, yes.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10So the pattern was, if you like,
0:09:10 > 0:09:14- an aide to memory as much as anything else?- Yes, yes.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31It may be a simple system compared to our electronic wizardry,
0:09:31 > 0:09:35but actually, it's beautifully effective because you can see how, if a student
0:09:35 > 0:09:40who had studied here, came across a plant in the field, perhaps on the other side of the world,
0:09:40 > 0:09:44wasn't quite sure what it was, but they vaguely remembered it,
0:09:44 > 0:09:49all they had to do was think back to where they'd seen it in this garden, which particular bed.
0:09:49 > 0:09:54And because each bed only had one plant, they'd hone in on that,
0:09:54 > 0:09:58look up in their book, bed number 36, block number two - bingo,
0:09:58 > 0:10:00they've got the name.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10The 16th century saw an increasing flow of new arrivals.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13The very first foreign plant introduced into the garden
0:10:13 > 0:10:16was in 1561, and was the Agave from Mexico,
0:10:16 > 0:10:22where it was prized by the Mayans for its wound-healing properties.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27The oldest surviving plant in the garden
0:10:27 > 0:10:31is the Mediterranean fan palm, Chamaerops humilis.
0:10:31 > 0:10:36This is the original specimen, that has been growing here since 1585.
0:10:41 > 0:10:45It's hard to exaggerate the importance of this garden.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48There were other botanic gardens around the same time,
0:10:48 > 0:10:51the one in Pisa was just about the same period,
0:10:51 > 0:10:55but this was where the study of plants really took on importance.
0:10:55 > 0:11:01And that appreciation of plants first of all as an aide to medicine
0:11:01 > 0:11:04and then as an end in itself, was slowly,
0:11:04 > 0:11:09but inexorably shaping the way that we viewed our gardens.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18As well as studying medical plants,
0:11:18 > 0:11:22the botanical garden in Padua played an important role in testing out
0:11:22 > 0:11:26the cultivation of newly introduced agricultural species
0:11:26 > 0:11:30that were to prove essential to feed the growing population.
0:11:50 > 0:11:55I'm now taking a boat trip along the canal that connects Padua to Venice.
0:11:55 > 0:11:57And perhaps more importantly,
0:11:57 > 0:12:02links Venice to the agricultural interior of the Veneto.
0:12:02 > 0:12:08Today, this is a charmingly gentle escape from the modern hurly-burly.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11But in the 16th century it would have been the quickest way
0:12:11 > 0:12:15to come inland and used regularly by the Venetian merchants and nobility,
0:12:15 > 0:12:19who were buying land in the region and building summer villas.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23These agricultural entrepreneurs planted the new crops
0:12:23 > 0:12:27like maize that had arrived from the Americas
0:12:27 > 0:12:30and immediately they thrived and proved highly profitable.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34This is the Brenta Canal, and very quickly it became the main route
0:12:34 > 0:12:38between Venice and Padua, and a lot of trade went up and down it.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41And also it was used by the merchants to get to their holiday homes,
0:12:41 > 0:12:44which they had built along the banks of the canal.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47Particularly at Stra which had very good soil.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50Those little farms that they first had became big estates
0:12:50 > 0:12:53and then finally really rather grand villas.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57And the place I'm going to visit now is the grandest of them all.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08The wealthy merchants and their guests would have been
0:13:08 > 0:13:11transported here to Stra in great style,
0:13:11 > 0:13:13travelling from their Venetian palazzo
0:13:13 > 0:13:19in a luxurious hybrid of gondola and barge known as a burchiello.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37I arrive at my destination just as they would have done,
0:13:37 > 0:13:38although in slightly less style,
0:13:38 > 0:13:44at the grandest holiday home in the Veneto, Villa Pisani.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48The Pisani family were Venetian bankers
0:13:48 > 0:13:52and merchants that had been wealthy and powerful since the 14th century.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56Villa Pisani started as a late 16th century farmhouse,
0:13:56 > 0:14:00but in 1720 it was pulled down to build a grand country palace
0:14:00 > 0:14:05where the Pisani family could entertain during the summer months.
0:14:07 > 0:14:12Look at that. You could set the scene, can't you?
0:14:12 > 0:14:16These visitors would come down the Brenta in a glorious barge,
0:14:16 > 0:14:19they'd get out, they'd see this enormous building,
0:14:19 > 0:14:22the biggest and the best in the area and be suitably impressed,
0:14:22 > 0:14:25come into it, it's all rather magnificent.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27And they pushed the doors and then boom,
0:14:27 > 0:14:32it expands beyond anything they've ever seen before.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36That's it, they've won. Pisanis have bowled them over.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47Alvise Pisani had been the Venetian Ambassador
0:14:47 > 0:14:50at the court of Louis XIV at Versailles
0:14:50 > 0:14:56and wanted his new garden at Stra to emulate that of the Sun King.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00But whereas Versailles stretched for 250 acres,
0:15:00 > 0:15:04Pisani had just 10 to play with.
0:15:07 > 0:15:12It's very grand, there are a number of these avenues that arrive
0:15:12 > 0:15:16at gates and it's a trick that was used actually a lot in gardens
0:15:16 > 0:15:22in the 18th century, these eye-catchers that draw the eye out of the garden.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25Cos the gardens here are obviously grand, but they're not that big.
0:15:25 > 0:15:27What you see is all there is.
0:15:27 > 0:15:32So by cutting through the woods and then arriving at this gate or gap
0:15:32 > 0:15:37in the fence, what it makes it feel is much bigger than it actually is.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39So the guests would come here,
0:15:39 > 0:15:43see it and feel as though it was owning as far as the eye could see.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53As with all Baroque gardens, the intention was to delight,
0:15:53 > 0:15:57amaze, surprise and entertain, as well as parade the owner's wealth
0:15:57 > 0:16:02and power in a triumphant display of mastery over nature.
0:16:04 > 0:16:09When you look on this from the entrance, it's absolutely magnificent.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12And it's pretty magnificent when you get here,
0:16:12 > 0:16:16but that's the road right there.
0:16:16 > 0:16:21It's about 10 metres thick and there's nothing here.
0:16:21 > 0:16:26It's built just for show, just to impress you, which is fine,
0:16:26 > 0:16:27cos it does.
0:16:43 > 0:16:49But this vast palace was only ever intended for the summer season.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52It was a place of play rather than work
0:16:52 > 0:16:55and life for a wealthy Venetian in the mid-18th century involved
0:16:55 > 0:17:00a very great deal of glamorous, not to say, amorous play.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05And the maze which was the first thing
0:17:05 > 0:17:08to be planted in the garden, was the perfect playground.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14I do like a nice, crisp hedge.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17The thing about a maze is just sort of a hedge lover's delight.
0:17:21 > 0:17:22Right, let's go in.
0:17:25 > 0:17:27- HE SNIFFS - Love the smell of box.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31This was planted in 1720 and it's remained pretty much the same,
0:17:31 > 0:17:33other than the change of hornbeam for box.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37But very different to the labyrinths that you got in mediaeval gardens,
0:17:37 > 0:17:39because in a labyrinth, we'd be wandering along here
0:17:39 > 0:17:41and I'd be composing myself
0:17:41 > 0:17:45and solemnly thinking about the tortuous route of life.
0:17:45 > 0:17:50Let's go this way. But by 1720, it'd become a game.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54So what you've got to imagine is people in lovely, great silk dresses
0:17:54 > 0:17:58and tricorn hats, and it was all flirty,
0:17:58 > 0:18:02so it was round the corner and you'd try and find me and chase me
0:18:02 > 0:18:04and all sorts of malarkey going on in the maze.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06And that's really the spirit of Pisani.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15Now. Left, I think.
0:18:17 > 0:18:18I can't see over the top.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21Ah, I'm getting near.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23Aha!
0:18:27 > 0:18:29Oh, dead end.
0:18:30 > 0:18:34That is deeply frustrating. Oh, well.
0:18:36 > 0:18:38I have a feeling...
0:18:38 > 0:18:41Oh, there's a cul-de-sac. I am actually genuinely lost.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44HE LAUGHS
0:18:44 > 0:18:46I don't know, we'll get out somehow.
0:18:46 > 0:18:51I think the secret of a good maze is there has to be
0:18:51 > 0:18:54a genuine sense of panic.
0:18:56 > 0:18:58And there's all sorts of recorded stories,
0:18:58 > 0:19:02particularly of grand tours, Englishmen who'd come and visit
0:19:02 > 0:19:05mazes in the 18th century and then get lost and be calling for help
0:19:05 > 0:19:08and these dreadful Italians wouldn't come and let them out.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12Probably delighted to keep the English lords shut away for a bit.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17Oh, dead end, you've got me.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20Now have your wicked way.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28Aha! Bull's-eye.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41Whilst the central tower would be a remarkably unapproachable place
0:19:41 > 0:19:44for a secret assignation, nowadays it serves only
0:19:44 > 0:19:48as a viewing platform, presided over by a decidedly unromantic guard.
0:19:51 > 0:19:56The thing about a maze, it's almost the ultimate sort of pleasing object.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58But of course as a gardener I think,
0:19:58 > 0:20:02"Blimey, can you imagine clipping that? And then collecting it all up,
0:20:02 > 0:20:05"and also the problem of letting light into it,
0:20:05 > 0:20:07"so it stays nice and thick."
0:20:09 > 0:20:11I doubt the Pisanis' sportive 18th century guests
0:20:11 > 0:20:13would have troubled over such things.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17However they might well have found their way to the coffee house
0:20:17 > 0:20:20to cool down after so much amorous excitement.
0:20:20 > 0:20:24This arcaded pavilion sits on a mound housing an ice house,
0:20:24 > 0:20:27which in winter was filled with blocks of ice cut from the moat that rings it.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32Right through summer the deliciously chilled air would waft
0:20:32 > 0:20:34upstairs into the building.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36Oh, yes, there's the vent, the open space,
0:20:36 > 0:20:38connecting to the cool air from the ice.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42So you'd sit up here with your great big frocks with cold air
0:20:42 > 0:20:45coming up underneath them, feeling elegant but cool.
0:20:51 > 0:20:56Sometimes it's easy to feel a bit overwhelmed by all the symbolism
0:20:56 > 0:21:01and allegory and metaphor that you get in Renaissance and Baroque gardens.
0:21:01 > 0:21:06But this garden is dead simple, it's just one message that counts
0:21:06 > 0:21:09and from the very beginning the Pisani brothers intended it
0:21:09 > 0:21:12to impress, and it's worked through the ages.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15Napoleon came along, saw it, loved it, bought it,
0:21:15 > 0:21:19stayed one night, dished it out to a member of his family.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22The Tsar of Russia chose to stay here above all the other places
0:21:22 > 0:21:25that he could have had in the Veneto.
0:21:25 > 0:21:27The Hapsburgs put their court here.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31And, to this day, every single person that walks through that door
0:21:31 > 0:21:34comes in, has a look and goes, "Wow".
0:21:40 > 0:21:44I'm leaving the Veneto to take a detour southwest to Lucca -
0:21:44 > 0:21:46once an independent city state,
0:21:46 > 0:21:49and another wealthy centre of trade and agriculture.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58I'm coming to visit a garden that was built on the proceeds
0:21:58 > 0:22:01of a very specialised, very local product.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08The reason why I'm making this journey to Lucca is that
0:22:08 > 0:22:10it shares lots of similarities with the Veneto,
0:22:10 > 0:22:13because it's an independent state
0:22:13 > 0:22:15that had a lot of wealth, but it was tiny.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18Despite this, it had its own ambassadors to the court
0:22:18 > 0:22:19of St Petersburg and Versailles
0:22:19 > 0:22:22and that wealth was based on two sources.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25One was banking and the other was silk.
0:22:35 > 0:22:39Today, visitors come to Lucca to admire its mediaeval architecture.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43It is a calm, beautifully-preserved town.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48But its history is founded on hard trade.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51800 years ago, Lucca led the world in silk production
0:22:51 > 0:22:54and pioneered new spinning technology.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59Lucca's silk merchants such as Giovanni Arnolfini,
0:22:59 > 0:23:02seen here in the famous painting by Jan van Eyck,
0:23:02 > 0:23:04grew enormously rich on the trade
0:23:04 > 0:23:07of the finest silks and silk velvets.
0:23:14 > 0:23:19These merchants built themselves summer houses outside the city.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23And by the middle of the 17th century, these villas in the hills
0:23:23 > 0:23:26increasingly sported superb gardens.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44In 1651, one of Lucca's wealthiest silk merchants of all bought himself
0:23:44 > 0:23:49the title of Count Orsetti and built this stupendous villa and garden.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54But despite the newly noble Count Orsetti's wealth,
0:23:54 > 0:23:56and despite the opulence of his gardens,
0:23:56 > 0:24:00the villas of these Lucchesi merchants were still
0:24:00 > 0:24:05essentially highly-productive farms, and they all shared the same layout.
0:24:05 > 0:24:09They're all north-south, they all have their good
0:24:09 > 0:24:13cereal ground below, going down, sweeping down gently in a slope.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16Behind them they had their olive trees and their orchards
0:24:16 > 0:24:19and their woods, and then right in front of the house
0:24:19 > 0:24:22and to the side they grew vegetables. It was a format they all followed,
0:24:22 > 0:24:26and in the middle of the farmhouse, they all have one big room
0:24:26 > 0:24:27with windows to the front and the back
0:24:27 > 0:24:30so they could look out on their land, because it's all about money.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34But in the kernel of all these places, they're working farmhouses.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41Villa Marlia, then known as Villa Orsetti,
0:24:41 > 0:24:44follows the Baroque fashion for a series of garden rooms,
0:24:44 > 0:24:49each designed to surprise, delight and entertain the visitor.
0:24:52 > 0:24:57But nothing delights or entertains me more than these breathtaking hedges.
0:25:03 > 0:25:05That is fantastic.
0:25:05 > 0:25:11Incredible canyon created by the hedges and the path.
0:25:11 > 0:25:15It's an unlikely comparison, but it's exactly the same impression
0:25:15 > 0:25:17you get when you first go to New York
0:25:17 > 0:25:18and these enormous buildings
0:25:18 > 0:25:23flanking the street and it changes the way that you view a street...
0:25:23 > 0:25:26or, here, a garden path.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29If you look at the trees, they're full-blown oak trees,
0:25:29 > 0:25:31clipped to hedge form.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38You see, for me this is worth crossing the world just to see this.
0:25:38 > 0:25:40Last for the rest of my life.
0:25:48 > 0:25:50The language of Baroque symbolism
0:25:50 > 0:25:54and allegory would have been readily understood by all educated Europeans
0:25:54 > 0:25:58of the period, which was essentially the 17th and 18th centuries.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02So I have seen a number of similar river gods to these in the pool
0:26:02 > 0:26:07and the citrus garden in other gardens around Rome and Caprarola.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13I've seen quite a few citrus gardens now,
0:26:13 > 0:26:15but I think this is my favourite.
0:26:15 > 0:26:16I love it.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19Just trying to work out what it is and I think the rhythm
0:26:19 > 0:26:22is important, you have the balustrades playing along
0:26:22 > 0:26:26and then the pots equally spaced and the colour of the lemons.
0:26:26 > 0:26:30And it's like a sort of Baroque fugue that's picked up and played on.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34But it's very practical - they would have sold the lemons
0:26:34 > 0:26:36and, you know, they're Luccans, they're merchants,
0:26:36 > 0:26:39and this is based upon an agricultural background,
0:26:39 > 0:26:42so you grow lemons and you sell them and it's a harvest
0:26:42 > 0:26:45and the water was for growing fish, if you like, it's a fish tank.
0:26:45 > 0:26:50And it fed them. So the beauty is always practical.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07Marlia, like all the gardens of the Italian Baroque,
0:27:07 > 0:27:10was a place of performance and display.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13And perhaps that is the central key to understanding all the great
0:27:13 > 0:27:15Italian gardens throughout history.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18And here at Marlia there is a perfectly preserved
0:27:18 > 0:27:23teatro di verdura - a theatre created entirely from topiary.
0:27:25 > 0:27:27This is terrific.
0:27:30 > 0:27:35This great building made out of yew and a little bit of box.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40And I know that it was really used, it's a real theatre,
0:27:40 > 0:27:43it's not a topiary-pretend theatre.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46They had performances here and there is backstage
0:27:46 > 0:27:48and seats probably sat here.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52And you could imagine those wonderful ladies with their enormous
0:27:52 > 0:27:56great silk dresses, local silk, I suspect, sweeping in,
0:27:56 > 0:28:01and you can get... Whoops, be careful on there.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04I come up here, getting soaked.
0:28:09 > 0:28:11I suppose this is the upper circle.
0:28:12 > 0:28:17Yes, in here, we've got backstage area.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20And I bet this is wonderfully cool in summer.
0:28:22 > 0:28:27And here we've the wings with all the different entrances.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32So we come through onto the stage and make my entrance.
0:28:34 > 0:28:35Da-nah!
0:28:44 > 0:28:47The terracotta statues date from 1700
0:28:47 > 0:28:51and represent the stock characters from the commedia dell'arte.
0:28:51 > 0:28:55These plays were frequently bawdy in tone and dramatised
0:28:55 > 0:29:00stock themes such as adultery, love and the futility of old age.
0:29:05 > 0:29:09And I have to say, it's just completely fabulous
0:29:09 > 0:29:12and I want one in my garden and I want it now.
0:29:20 > 0:29:23For Count Orsetti and his descendants, parties and plays
0:29:23 > 0:29:28continued at Villa Marlia right up to the end of the 18th century.
0:29:29 > 0:29:32Then their world collapsed.
0:29:32 > 0:29:36In 1796, Napoleon Bonaparte crossed the Alps
0:29:36 > 0:29:38and swept through northern Italy.
0:29:42 > 0:29:45His army captured Venice, ending 1,100 years of independence,
0:29:45 > 0:29:49and in 1799 took Lucca.
0:29:56 > 0:30:00The opening lines of Tolstoy's War And Peace are, roughly,
0:30:00 > 0:30:02"Well, prince,
0:30:02 > 0:30:08"I see that Lucca and Genoa are now just estates of the Bonaparte family."
0:30:08 > 0:30:10And that was based on what happened here,
0:30:10 > 0:30:15because in 1805, Napoleon, dishing out provinces
0:30:15 > 0:30:21like the gangster chief he was, gave to his sister the state of Lucca.
0:30:21 > 0:30:25And she came down, had a look and decided that this villa,
0:30:25 > 0:30:27which was then called Villa Orsetti,
0:30:27 > 0:30:29was where she wanted to base herself.
0:30:29 > 0:30:32And she more or less turfed out the owners - she did pay them
0:30:32 > 0:30:35and gave them an offer they couldn't refuse.
0:30:35 > 0:30:40And the count, Count Orsetti, in his fury and fear, I suspect,
0:30:40 > 0:30:45had her silver money melted down, made into a huge dinner service,
0:30:45 > 0:30:48which he then put on a cart and trundled
0:30:48 > 0:30:50across the front of the villa
0:30:50 > 0:30:54so that Elisa could see Marlia disappear.
0:30:58 > 0:31:01It might have made him feel better,
0:31:01 > 0:31:03but it didn't get him his house back.
0:31:03 > 0:31:06And Elisa turned her back on his baroque formality,
0:31:06 > 0:31:09and created instead an English landscape garden.
0:31:09 > 0:31:13Its much more natural, informal style was then sweeping
0:31:13 > 0:31:17the continent and made greater use of imported plants and trees.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27Although the changes that Elisa made here were highly fashionable
0:31:27 > 0:31:31at the time, actually, gardening was changing in a very profound way.
0:31:31 > 0:31:36And it was because new plants were pouring in from all over the world.
0:31:36 > 0:31:40And up till the 19th century, in Italy at least, architects
0:31:40 > 0:31:44and landscape designers controlled the way that gardens looked.
0:31:44 > 0:31:48But with this new material it was plants themselves became
0:31:48 > 0:31:50the most interesting thing.
0:31:50 > 0:31:55And we go from the age of the formal designer to the age of the plantsman.
0:32:03 > 0:32:06I'm now heading north to an area where plantsmen made perhaps
0:32:06 > 0:32:11the biggest impact on the country's gardens, the Italian lakes, which
0:32:11 > 0:32:15lie up on the country's mountainous border with Switzerland and France.
0:32:36 > 0:32:41This is Lake Como, where the freshly kindled 19th-century
0:32:41 > 0:32:45passion for plants combined with a surge of new exotic species
0:32:45 > 0:32:47to create some spectacular gardens.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55The dramatic alpine setting, purity of the air
0:32:55 > 0:32:59and the clarity of the light, all combine to make this area feel
0:32:59 > 0:33:02distinctly different to the rest of Italy.
0:33:02 > 0:33:06In the early 19th century, it certainly chimed with the new romantic movement,
0:33:06 > 0:33:09and inspired poets such as Shelley and Wordsworth
0:33:09 > 0:33:11and composers like Verdi and Liszt.
0:33:14 > 0:33:17And at the same time in the early 1800s,
0:33:17 > 0:33:19Como's shores were being transformed
0:33:19 > 0:33:23as wealthy Italians queued up to build lakeside villas.
0:33:28 > 0:33:32- I'm taking a boat trip along Lake Como with Judith Wade.- Hello.
0:33:32 > 0:33:36'Judith founded the Grandi Giardini Italiani which has helped
0:33:36 > 0:33:41'and coordinated scores of Italy's finest historic gardens
0:33:41 > 0:33:43'to open to the public.'
0:33:58 > 0:34:00They are incredibly splendid villas.
0:34:00 > 0:34:04Very ornate, all the gardens of course are waterfront
0:34:04 > 0:34:08and have been designed so that you can appreciate them
0:34:08 > 0:34:13from the waterfront rather than from the back of the city.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16There are dozens of very impressive villas, aren't there?
0:34:16 > 0:34:18Just one after the other, all the way along.
0:34:18 > 0:34:21- I think there are more than 100. - Really? Really?
0:34:24 > 0:34:27'In recent years, many of Como's lavish villas have been bought
0:34:27 > 0:34:33'by oligarchs, film stars and super-rich fashion designers.'
0:34:36 > 0:34:39- This used to belong to Versace and... - This one here?
0:34:39 > 0:34:41Yes, and that's where...
0:34:41 > 0:34:43And does the garden run all the way down?
0:34:43 > 0:34:45- All the way down here. - Marvellous garden.
0:34:45 > 0:34:48And I believe that Madonna and Shakira
0:34:48 > 0:34:51and all the people in the pop world would turn up here often.
0:34:53 > 0:34:56So what's this one here?
0:34:56 > 0:34:58Mr Clooney's place.
0:34:58 > 0:35:02- Ah, very beautiful, yes, I could see why he might want to live there.- Yes.
0:35:13 > 0:35:16This is Mr Branson's home, it's rather particular,
0:35:16 > 0:35:18very beautifully kept.
0:35:18 > 0:35:20- Yes.- Almost groomed.
0:35:20 > 0:35:24And Mr Branson can only fly in here or come in here by boat,
0:35:24 > 0:35:26because it has no access by road.
0:35:28 > 0:35:33- It is immaculately kept, isn't it? - And beautifully clipped Cyprus trees.
0:35:33 > 0:35:35Does he spend much time there?
0:35:35 > 0:35:39- I really don't know, he's never invited me over, but...- Has he not?
0:35:39 > 0:35:41- How rude.- Ha-ha!- How appalling.
0:35:45 > 0:35:50And now we're coming along to Balbianello, but this is on a slope,
0:35:50 > 0:35:54so you couldn't make a proper Italian garden. Well, you come in here,
0:35:54 > 0:35:57you can look up the slope and it looks as though it is a garden.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05There is a lot of topiary there. It's beautifully groomed and clipped.
0:36:05 > 0:36:08They take four months, just two men,
0:36:08 > 0:36:12who've been there for the last 30 years, they're the same.
0:36:12 > 0:36:15- Do you know they use scissors on it? - Do they? Ha-ha!
0:36:27 > 0:36:31In the early 19th century when many of these villas and their gardens
0:36:31 > 0:36:35were made, there was a burgeoning of colonial expansion and trade,
0:36:35 > 0:36:39which, in turn, created and fuelled a craze for exotic new plants,
0:36:39 > 0:36:41both from the east and the Americas.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46The climate of the lakes, with its high rainfall, hot summers
0:36:46 > 0:36:50and surprisingly mild winters, was perfect for the new arrivals.
0:36:56 > 0:37:01Everybody has lovely glass houses because they were plant collectors.
0:37:01 > 0:37:03So they were bringing plants in,
0:37:03 > 0:37:05I mean, that was quite a new thing, wasn't it?
0:37:05 > 0:37:09- That was the fashion way through Europe at the time.- Yes, yes.
0:37:09 > 0:37:12It was your status symbol - it wasn't having a Ferrari,
0:37:12 > 0:37:14it was buying rare plants.
0:37:14 > 0:37:19And then of course when Napoleon turned up of course there was
0:37:19 > 0:37:23a lot of boats going round Europe bringing plants in and out -
0:37:23 > 0:37:27that was an exciting part, he was going to exotic parts of the world.
0:37:27 > 0:37:32And so with the mild climate and ericaceous soil they could have plants from the Himalayas
0:37:32 > 0:37:34or China or wherever.
0:37:36 > 0:37:39- Goodbye, have a nice day. - Thank you very much indeed.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42'On the shore of the little village of Bellagio is Villa Melzi,
0:37:42 > 0:37:46which is one of Lake Como's finest gardens.
0:38:03 > 0:38:07At the turn of the 19th century, this garden started a bitter
0:38:07 > 0:38:11horticultural rivalry between two of Italy's most prominent men.
0:38:13 > 0:38:17Melzi was the home of Francesco Melzi d'Eril, a Milanese aristocrat
0:38:17 > 0:38:23who Napoleon appointed vice president of Italy after the French invasion.
0:38:23 > 0:38:28In 1808 he began to make his garden in the new English landscape style,
0:38:28 > 0:38:31and from the first it was open to views of the lake
0:38:31 > 0:38:33and the mountains beyond.
0:38:33 > 0:38:37However, like all natural-looking gardens, this involved huge work
0:38:37 > 0:38:41to make and needs intensive maintenance to keep looking natural.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45When you first walk round the garden it seems to just sort of be
0:38:45 > 0:38:47rather soft and like a country park.
0:38:47 > 0:38:52But when you analyse it the design has got really particular and strong elements.
0:38:52 > 0:38:54For a start, you've got this steep slope,
0:38:54 > 0:38:58tied together by the immaculate grass and these sculpted rather
0:38:58 > 0:39:02abstract forms both of the shape of the land and also the shrubs.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05And then there's trees growing up which give it some verticals.
0:39:05 > 0:39:07And then you have this path,
0:39:07 > 0:39:11this great long path just running the whole length of the garden
0:39:11 > 0:39:13and the series of the plane trees, open to the lake.
0:39:14 > 0:39:18And it's a vast plane, this great horizontal expanse,
0:39:18 > 0:39:20which sets it all into balance.
0:39:20 > 0:39:25And I don't think that first part, the soft, abstract, sculptural bit,
0:39:25 > 0:39:28would work nearly so well without the severity of the lake.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37Directly across the water at Villa Carlotta
0:39:37 > 0:39:43lived Gian Battista Sommariva, another highly ambitious politician.
0:39:43 > 0:39:47And Sommariva deeply resented Melzi for beating him to the top job
0:39:47 > 0:39:50and there was no love lost between the neighbours.
0:39:50 > 0:39:56This fuelled both men's gardens as they vied to out-do each other.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10Melzi appointed a botanist and started filling his garden
0:40:10 > 0:40:13with the latest plants from around the world.
0:40:22 > 0:40:24Sommariva followed suit,
0:40:24 > 0:40:27buying up more land to make room for his growing collection.
0:40:35 > 0:40:40Melzi fired a salvo of Rhododendron indicum, imported from Japan.
0:40:44 > 0:40:45Not to be outdone,
0:40:45 > 0:40:49Sommariva responded by planting hundreds of them.
0:40:55 > 0:40:57But Melzi wasn't going to take that lying down.
0:40:57 > 0:41:00He did his own exotic planting right on the waterfront,
0:41:00 > 0:41:04and Sommariva could see that across the water
0:41:04 > 0:41:08it was like a horticultural bullet fired straight at him.
0:41:14 > 0:41:17Melzi upped the stakes and planted ever more trees and shrubs
0:41:17 > 0:41:20rarely seen in Italy at that time,
0:41:20 > 0:41:24but daily visible to Sommariva.
0:41:25 > 0:41:28For my money, it's Villa Melzi that wins
0:41:28 > 0:41:30this rather frantic gardening duel.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33Unlike Carlotta, it has a sweep and a line to it,
0:41:33 > 0:41:36and the inclusion of the landscape is clever and generous.
0:41:54 > 0:41:56But nevertheless, I can't help but notice that
0:41:56 > 0:41:59Melzi sited his greatest treasures
0:41:59 > 0:42:02where they would admired by the maximum number of people.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09The garden here is planted with wonderful specimen trees
0:42:09 > 0:42:11like the cedar of Lebanon,
0:42:11 > 0:42:15and there are zelkovas and all sorts of trees from all over the world.
0:42:15 > 0:42:20But none of them are the same as the trees on the wooded slopes,
0:42:20 > 0:42:22none of them are natives.
0:42:22 > 0:42:26And actually, if you look along the lake, you have this fine seam of
0:42:26 > 0:42:30exotic planting, like a strip of gold showing off people's wealth.
0:42:48 > 0:42:51Napoleon's rule lasted less than 20 years.
0:42:51 > 0:42:56And finally, in 1861, for the first time in its history,
0:42:56 > 0:42:59Italy was unified into a single political state.
0:43:01 > 0:43:03Railways were built, businesses prospered,
0:43:03 > 0:43:08and throughout this new Italy, and especially here in the north,
0:43:08 > 0:43:12a new middle class started to emerge, and they began to take up
0:43:12 > 0:43:16the hitherto-aristocratic pastime of gardening.
0:43:18 > 0:43:23Going past miles of nurseries, mainly for trees.
0:43:23 > 0:43:26And these nurseries really began in the 19th century,
0:43:26 > 0:43:27particularly in the north -
0:43:27 > 0:43:30there was money developing, for the middle classes.
0:43:30 > 0:43:33And that meant that they could have gardens that weren't
0:43:33 > 0:43:36just for food, and for the very first time,
0:43:36 > 0:43:38there were gardening magazines, there were plant suppliers,
0:43:38 > 0:43:40there were societies,
0:43:40 > 0:43:43so that horticulture became a common activity.
0:43:47 > 0:43:51Before I visit my last garden, I'm stopping off in Milan to visit
0:43:51 > 0:43:55one of Italy's oldest nurseries, established 130 years ago.
0:43:59 > 0:44:02In the spirit of the 16th-century botanists in Padua,
0:44:02 > 0:44:06the Ingegnoli brothers collected plants from all over the world
0:44:06 > 0:44:08and propagated them for their seeds,
0:44:08 > 0:44:11feeding the new market for exotic flowers and fruits.
0:44:14 > 0:44:16The business is now run by Francesco Fadini,
0:44:16 > 0:44:19the sixth generation of Ingegnolis.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28The railway was very, very important for us.
0:44:28 > 0:44:34In 1861, to send our product, the seeds, the plants,
0:44:34 > 0:44:37in all Italy, from Milano to Sicily.
0:44:37 > 0:44:42- So by this stage, the whole of Italy was buying from you?- Yes.
0:44:42 > 0:44:46- So you could issue a catalogue? - Yes. This is the catalogue for 1893.
0:44:50 > 0:44:52Great pictures, too.
0:44:52 > 0:44:55Look at all these different varieties of pear, it's amazing.
0:44:55 > 0:44:56We don't have this now.
0:44:56 > 0:45:00I like the squared paper, so people could write their notes.
0:45:00 > 0:45:02- Make their notes, yes. - It's such a good idea.
0:45:02 > 0:45:06And presumably there was a genuine increase in interest?
0:45:06 > 0:45:09The new type of plants were very important.
0:45:09 > 0:45:15Francesco Ingegnoli, in 1880, he went to Japan, to China,
0:45:15 > 0:45:16he returned with the caco.
0:45:16 > 0:45:20- I don't know in English the translation of the "caco". - I think it's persimmon.
0:45:20 > 0:45:24So people must have been excited by these new plants coming in.
0:45:24 > 0:45:28- To taste the first time, like a caco...- Yes, yes.- Is incredible.
0:45:28 > 0:45:33We also have a letter of 1888. It's the thank letter.
0:45:33 > 0:45:40"I received six caco. Thanks very much. And I hope that in the future,
0:45:40 > 0:45:46"this variety of caco will be very famous in Italy, best regards, Giuseppe Verdi."
0:45:46 > 0:45:48So you had famous customers.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51There were these new fruits coming in, new varieties,
0:45:51 > 0:45:54there's a kind of energy.
0:45:54 > 0:46:00It was very important. They wanted to see flower, the colour, something different.
0:46:00 > 0:46:02Now I understand, I understand.
0:46:15 > 0:46:19I have headed north from Milan to Lake Maggiore,
0:46:19 > 0:46:22and my final destination on this horticultural journey through Italy.
0:46:24 > 0:46:30And this is perhaps the ultimate expression of the baroque love of extravagance and drama.
0:46:32 > 0:46:37At the western end of Lake Maggiore lie three islands collectively called the Borromeos.
0:46:47 > 0:46:52They're named after the aristocratic banking family who bought land on them in the 16th century.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00The island that I'm visiting is called Isola Bella,
0:47:00 > 0:47:06and for centuries it has attracted garden visitors like moths to the flame.
0:47:06 > 0:47:11Indeed this is now my own third visit. I hope it won't be my last.
0:47:18 > 0:47:22The Isola Bella is just not like anywhere else you've ever seen.
0:47:22 > 0:47:25When I first saw it, I remember thinking
0:47:25 > 0:47:28that it's like a sort of mad battleship wearing a party frock.
0:47:28 > 0:47:30It's extravagant, it's hysterical,
0:47:30 > 0:47:34It's like a drag ball parading as a garden.
0:47:34 > 0:47:39And yet it's a really good garden and perhaps the best surviving
0:47:39 > 0:47:41baroque example of a garden in the whole of Italy.
0:47:52 > 0:47:57In 1632 Carlo Borromeo, the governor of Lake Maggiore,
0:47:57 > 0:48:02commissioned this entire rocky island to be transformed into a pyramid of terraces.
0:48:09 > 0:48:15Towering 100 feet up into the sky, he wanted it to look like a great galleon floating on the lake.
0:48:17 > 0:48:19It took 40 years to complete,
0:48:19 > 0:48:23and huge quantities of soil, marble and granite were shipped in.
0:48:25 > 0:48:29Whilst this work proceeded, Borromeo set about trying to buy up
0:48:29 > 0:48:32the houses of the fishermen who lived on the island.
0:48:44 > 0:48:49But it wasn't all plain sailing, because a lot of the villagers couldn't be coerced into selling.
0:48:49 > 0:48:53They just stayed put, which meant that the garden had to be made around them,
0:48:53 > 0:48:55which is why it's such an odd shape.
0:48:55 > 0:48:59Now, gradually over a long period of time, some did sell,
0:48:59 > 0:49:02and pockets of the garden were able to be extended.
0:49:20 > 0:49:25This is classic High Baroque drama.
0:49:25 > 0:49:31Everything slightly hysterical, but in a very elegant, controlled way.
0:49:34 > 0:49:40And I love these high hedges above the balustrade, they're bay hedges.
0:49:41 > 0:49:44So enormous height, I mean what's that, 30 feet tall?
0:49:44 > 0:49:47And you know something's up there but you don't know what,
0:49:47 > 0:49:49so of course you're led, and then look at, oh!
0:49:51 > 0:49:55These steps curve round and then that's ficus repens on the wall,
0:49:55 > 0:50:02and then more bay above it, so you have this immaculate green, curving wall.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09Very simple but immediately incredibly powerful.
0:50:10 > 0:50:14MUSIC: "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" by Mozart
0:50:16 > 0:50:22There's a tendency to think of baroque as all twiddles and over-ornamentation.
0:50:22 > 0:50:26But this staircase does show that just texture and colour
0:50:26 > 0:50:34and very, very strong shape and form with that little strip of stone is just as dramatic.
0:50:36 > 0:50:40And the main purpose of the staircase is to compress the views
0:50:40 > 0:50:42and heighten the sense of anticipation.
0:51:10 > 0:51:18And there, this is the most incredible, theatrical,
0:51:18 > 0:51:21completely dotty thing I've ever seen in a garden.
0:51:21 > 0:51:26And it's... What is it? It's operatic.
0:51:27 > 0:51:30And white peacocks, it's like a dream,
0:51:30 > 0:51:34like walking through a door in a dream and suddenly seeing
0:51:34 > 0:51:41this scalloped, vast stage set with figures.
0:51:41 > 0:51:45It's like walking round the corner in your garden
0:51:45 > 0:51:48and going onto the L'Escala or the Opera House at Covent Garden.
0:51:51 > 0:51:52Fantastic!
0:51:52 > 0:51:56MUSIC: "The Queen of the Night" from "The Magic Flute" by Mozart
0:52:10 > 0:52:16The Massimo theatre is an operatic triumph of baroque kitsch and power play.
0:52:18 > 0:52:21The statues of Roman gods, obelisks, scallops, waving putti,
0:52:21 > 0:52:24all overlooked by the Borromeos' symbol, the unicorn.
0:52:37 > 0:52:40Guests would have been entertained by music drifting up from choirs
0:52:40 > 0:52:43and orchestras hidden in the garden below.
0:52:49 > 0:52:55Whilst albino peacocks, imported from south-east Asia, strutted and posed archly.
0:53:05 > 0:53:10The impulse to entertain, impress and show off
0:53:10 > 0:53:13reaches its high point on the highest terrace.
0:53:23 > 0:53:27Big open space. It's like walking into an empty ballroom.
0:53:31 > 0:53:35And these amazing views on each side.
0:53:37 > 0:53:39So that it couldn't be lighter and airier,
0:53:39 > 0:53:42and yet these whopping great statues, and...
0:53:46 > 0:53:50..there, the Borromeo symbol, the unicorn, bigger than anything else.
0:53:53 > 0:53:55No doubt about who's the daddy here!
0:53:57 > 0:54:01So if you come to the Borromeo party, you end up here, with all the guests in their finery
0:54:01 > 0:54:05and people can see that you're having a party,
0:54:05 > 0:54:07they can see you dressed in your finery,
0:54:07 > 0:54:12you know, the Borromeos are having another do.
0:54:12 > 0:54:14But they're not invited, that's the key thing.
0:54:14 > 0:54:17This is a fortress of privilege.
0:54:17 > 0:54:21It's the perfect platform for display.
0:54:29 > 0:54:34Originally dominated by Mediterranean plants and the inevitable citrus,
0:54:34 > 0:54:38Isola Bella underwent a transformation in the 19th century
0:54:38 > 0:54:43when the plant-mad Count Vitaliano Borromeo imported a mass of exotic species
0:54:43 > 0:54:48from China, India, the Americas, Himalayas and Australia.
0:54:59 > 0:55:03This Camphor is truly enormous, it's...
0:55:03 > 0:55:07ooh, it's a tree on a heroic scale.
0:55:07 > 0:55:09But it started life as a rooted cutting.
0:55:09 > 0:55:14The count bought it in with lots of other exotics that he'd collected and bought into the garden,
0:55:14 > 0:55:16and was grown in a pot, and admired.
0:55:16 > 0:55:20And it got bigger and bigger and then was planted out. And it's never stopped growing.
0:55:20 > 0:55:23And at a rate that far exceeds any other tree in the garden.
0:55:23 > 0:55:27And, in fact, most other trees altogether. It is now just colossal.
0:55:28 > 0:55:32And it's very beautiful, and it's got this lovely billowing silhouette.
0:55:42 > 0:55:49For all its brash ostentation, there are some secret corners of Isola Bella that are less flamboyant,
0:55:49 > 0:55:52but to my mind, every bit as dramatic.
0:55:58 > 0:56:03The public aren't allowed into here. I've been let in specially.
0:56:05 > 0:56:08And it's my favourite bit, it's absolutely wonderful.
0:56:08 > 0:56:11These great buildings of green,
0:56:11 > 0:56:17and some of them are Camellia, and these great pillows of azaleas.
0:56:19 > 0:56:24And there's Rhododendrons, so of course in spring, that will just explode out into colour.
0:56:24 > 0:56:29I like it green, actually, I love this austerity of colour
0:56:29 > 0:56:33and yet ambition on scale.
0:56:33 > 0:56:36And I think you come in and immediately feel inspired
0:56:36 > 0:56:39and everything's lifted up a notch or two.
0:56:48 > 0:56:53Although there are marvellously elegant and sculptural parts of the garden,
0:56:53 > 0:56:59from the south here and as you approach by boat and look up at this view,
0:56:59 > 0:57:01what you see is totally brash.
0:57:03 > 0:57:05Totally kitsch.
0:57:05 > 0:57:08Completely without any taste at all.
0:57:09 > 0:57:11And I love it for that.
0:57:21 > 0:57:27Who could not love the way that Isola Bella is an unashamed carnival of a garden?
0:57:27 > 0:57:29It's quintessentially baroque,
0:57:29 > 0:57:33and that desire to put on an outward show is quintessentially Italian.
0:57:33 > 0:57:36Certainly I've never visited any garden like it.
0:57:36 > 0:57:41And it feels like the perfect place to end my tour of the great Italian gardens.
0:57:41 > 0:57:48Isola Bella is a performance, and it's kitsch and it's brash and at times completely barmy,
0:57:48 > 0:57:49but I think it's heroic.
0:57:49 > 0:57:55But then, I think you must appreciate that gardens fall under that Italian spell of bella figura.
0:57:55 > 0:57:58This need to create a good impression,
0:57:58 > 0:58:02to look really good, and it doesn't really matter what's behind it.
0:58:02 > 0:58:05And travelling through this beautiful country,
0:58:05 > 0:58:09seeing amazing gardens all along the way, has been a joy.
0:58:19 > 0:58:22Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:22 > 0:58:25E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk