
GARDENS of COTE D'AZUR and TUSCANY
September 16 – 26th, 2006
September 24th was our visit out to Lucca
and the Villa Gardens of Mansi and Torrigiani. Villa Mansi itself stands out
among other Luccanese palaces, as do the once elaborate water gardens
designed by the late Baroque architect, Filippo Juvarra. The present house
was begun in the late 16th century and rebuilt in the 1630s, but it was then
recast for the Mansi family in the 1670s. Juvarra altered the gardens in
1720, giving them the theatrical stamp that can be seen today. However, only
the fishpond, the ruins of Diana's Grotto, a section of cascade and segments
of hedge survive today. This is also where we choose to take some group
photographs…the stairs were perfect for that… We stopped at a delightful
local restaurant for lunch and even though they were not expecting a group
this size to just pop in, what a lunch we all had. Absolutely delicious.
Then it was on to the Villa Torrigiani (on 2007 tour) It and the park date
back to the beginning of the 16th century. The owners then were the powerful
Buonvisi family. During the first half of the 17th Century Villa Torrigiani
was purchased by Marquis Nicolao Santini, the ambassador of the Republic of
Lucca to the court of Louis 14th (the sun King), who wanted to transform it
into a sumptuous dwelling, with a garden of flowering parterres and grand
basins, into which the facade would reflect. The garden was to be built
according to the plans done by Le Notre for the royal home of Versailles.
Theater of Flora with grottoes and water works which still function and
which are visible in the Grotto of the Winds. There is an exceptional
example of a round grotto with stone mosaics and the niches surrounding with
remarkable statues of the winds, fountains serving as basins, and above them
a dome from which great rain pours down. We saw splendid examples of
Liliodendron Tulipifera, Taxodium Disdreum, Olsmanthus Fragrans, Atlas Cedar
and many varieties of magnolias and Camellia. ‘The garden was designed in
accordance with strict Tuscan canons of symmetry and geometry, which also
call for continuity with the surrounding countryside.’
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