Florence and Rome: the continuation of history

1550: Beginning of work on the Boboli garden, according to the project of Niccolo Tribolo.

1550: Beginning of work on villa d'Este in Tivoli for the cardinal Ippolito d'Este II (1509-1572). It will be finished thirty years later by Pierro Ligorio (1500-1583). To create the garden it was necessary to erase a whole district of the city, to clear and embank to create an effect of retreat, with a central axis called "alley of Perspective" in the prolongation of the loggia and with five transversal axes connecting the most monumental fountains. Another garden emblematic for the paintings of Fragonard and Hubert Robert, it was acquired and restored by the Italian State at the beginning of the twentieth century to be opened to the public.

1560: The garden of Bomarzo is designed by Pierro Ligorio for Vicino Orsoni. It comprises representations of monsters of exceptional quality and inspiration and a sacred wood. Rediscovered in the twentieth century by artists like Salvador Dali, it was recently restored.

1564: Annibale Lippi restructures an old building at the request of Cardinal Giovanni Ricci di Montepulciano, which then passes to the Medicis. The internal facade is organised around a loggia and a garden "à la Italy". The work of restoration, then the excavations that were carried outdid justice to the frescos ofrom the sixteenth century, as well as to the nymphs of the old gardens of Lucullus dating from the reign of Claudius. Seat of the French Academy and reception for the winners of the Prize of Rome, it accommodated exhibitions of contemporary art, while France showed at the school of fine arts in Paris the "Envois of Rome", witnesses to the vogue of Antiquity and the birth of the idea of heritage.

1569-1584: Construction of the villa and the park of Pratolino by the architect Bernardo Buontalenti (1536-1608) for the grand-duke Francesco I. The same architect designs the grounds of Pretaia for Ferdinand de Medici between 1575 and 1590.

1582: Etienne du Pérac offers to the court of France the "Perspective views of the gardens of Tivoli " published in 1573.

1583-1593: Continuation of the Boboli garden in Florence with Grotta Grande, work of Bernardo Buontalenti.

1598-1603: The cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini (1572-1621) orders to a pupil of Michelangelo, Giacomo della Porta, the construction of his summer residence: Villa Aldobrandini.

1599: Completion by Giusto (or Justus) Utens upon orders from the grand-duke Fernandino I of fourteen painted glasses intended for his villa Ferdinanda d' Artiminio, on Montalbano, built by Bernardo Buontalenti and representing the villas built for various members of the Medici family between 1451 and 1599. These paintings, unique testimonies on the art of the gardens, are today in Museo Storico Topografico in Florence.

1605: Construction of Villa Borghese, in the year when Camillo Borghese is elected pope (Paul V).

1610: Zanoni di Andrea Lapi buys the grounds of Gamberaia for Francesco di Baccio di Manente Buondelmonti. It is from this year that one can date the construction of Villa Gamberaia. It is taken again by Capponi in 1717, who continues to arrange the garden and introduces one nymph. But the most outstanding personality of this villa, who buys it in 1896, is the Princess Jeanne Keshko, wife of Prince Eugene Ghika. The great Florentine landscape designer Pietro Porcinai born in 1910 is the son of the gardener of the Princess who, with Luigi Messeri, created the modern garden one currently sees, which became a model for many rich families and whose plans were often published in professional magazines at the beginning of the twentieth century. Luigi Zalum and his wife Franca inherited the grounds in 1994 and actively continued the restoration undertaken since 1954 by the Marchi family.

1683: Publication in a bound volume of engravings by Giovanni Battista Falda started in 1670, under the title "Li giardini di Roma, con le loro piante, alzate e vedute in prospettiva".

1728: Publication in London by Robert Castell of "The Villa of the Ancients".