Judith Chatfield leads readers on a tour of fifty of Italy's historic gardens, nearly all of them open to the public - from the intimate giardini segreti of the north, to the vast parks of Caserta in the south. In the hills above Florence at Fiesole, shady walks and soft cascades were cultivated to encourage philosophical discussions. In other gardens musicalstatues, hidden water-tricks, and box-hedged labyrinths reflect the whimsies of popes and Renaissance princes. Where practicality prevailed vineyards and olive groves terrace garden slopes.
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