They say all roads lead to Rome, or perhaps lead back to Rome in European history. All garden roads seem to lead back to Rome. Where did Italian gardens originate? Roman models. How about Hampton Court, the “other” estate of Henry VIII? English gardens came from Roman models. Palace of Versailles? French gardens copied the Italian ones. But even the Romans would have known about the earliest ones in Persia, like the garden where Cyrus the Great used trees and lawn to demonstrate his power.
In Florence on vacation, our first stop was Boboli Gardens aka the Medici gardens. This was the Renaissance garden of power, which made me think about garden styles and how different styles and different regimes have influenced those garden styles. This is mainly an excuse to show a few vacation photos, but still, who doesn’t like a lovely little garden?
Look on my Trapezoidal Pool and Tremble!
Cyrus the Great was one of the first known, named emperors of the BCEs (Before Common Era), @ 600-530, one of those dudes who marshalled resources a little better and inspired armies a little better, so that he gathered a lot of territory under his leadership. Or conquered, if you prefer. He built a giant palace at Pasargadae, which hasn’t been as well known as other areas in Persia because it’s only recently been excavated.
Recent discoveries show that the gardens were extensive, far bigger and showier than the buildings of the palace. Buildings mostly being a place to walk to across the paths of trees, local flora, and designs. If you’re thinking that Iran, which is Persia’s modern name, is mostly desert then that was the point. Descriptions of the modern excavations say that the archaeologists are scratching their head, trying to understand where the water came from, and the answer was VERY FAR AWAY.
The most recent dig even discovered that there was a massive trapezoidal (oddly shaped 4-sided design) pool. Very shallow, maybe a meter, but 100m by 100m or something like that. A trapezoidal football field of water that came from who knows where? As Cyrus would walk the gardens with foreign dignitaries, waving airly at the “little green patch” that he’d created for his meditations, who could not express awe at the design? The pumps! The labor involved! The ongoing masses of slaves, hydraulics (or whatever 500BCE had for a substitute), the Infrastructure of it all. If that’s his garden, imagine his army! The row after row of trees said Don’t Mess With Me.
English Gardens: Private Sculptures, Public Nature
Gardens do serve different purposes. Power and majesty is one. Consider Hampton court, the extensive palace and grounds of the Henry the 8th. It was not just a large grounds, but in the English style, nature took more precedence. The Roman estate that the English built upon meant a display of wealth through size. Hampton court has an emphasis on sculpture, both the massive hedges that comprise the labyrinth maze–very popular English design. But also the trees cut into conical or geometrical shapes. Hampton also required a lot of labor to maintain its manicured appearance. The mazes, of course, had that other purpose, where kings or visiting princes might corner various serving maids. It was a fertile environment, indeed!
But the flowers were different in England in general, and later gardens had a bursting quality, especially the public ones. England came to cultivate roses by the thousands. So if you walk through Hyde Park or any of the massive parks in London, you have more fun identifying the species of flowers that seem to struggle against each other to be seen. Nature let loose to find its way up through the paths.
The English were great lovers of parks, and I’d read that they even argued for major expansion in the 1950s for a curious reason. When the Soviets started winning all those Olympic medals (yes, there’s an Olympic connection!), the British response was to cultivate more healthy British people through walking–and walking through parks. The Americans decided to indoctrinate children via the Presidents Council on Physical Fitness. Londoners got more gardens; American kids had to do sit-ups.
So where are the Italians in all this? The Medici Gardens were also gardens of power. Like Hampton Court and Pasargadae, the Boboli Gardens were built for the bankers who became rulers. The Medici Gardens were not public.
Views Across Acres of Green and All of Florence
The Boboli Gardens are situated across the river Arno from the main part of Florence, up in the hills. The Medici estate, the Pitti Palace, squats next to the grounds, full of painted ceilings of cherubs and Roman gods. The gardens themselves spread out across more than a hundred acres, like an arrow. The “entrance” today immediately offers a 20% rise uphill– which was darned difficult at 95 degrees in 50% humidity–how I suffer to bring you such photos!
As one used to public parks and wild, natural spaces, it was hard to understand what the Medicis were going for. There are a few spaces that are heavily manicured in what is called the “Italian style” — small shrubs with diamonds and triangles. Not the “circles” that the English favored, according to one guidebook. Definitely not very floral.
The first impression is that it is sparse, with a lot of gravel, a lot of wide open space, and a lot going up. As you go up rise after rise, there are shady small paths that cut through one lane to the next… again a place for an illegitimate tryst. Each rise has a small courtyard with a fountain, elaborate with monkeys, cherubs, Pegasus. Tons of statues tucked away in the sideyards. Very few flowers.
A small “knight’s garden” is situated at the very top, for the son of Cosimo I, who was the son of and the grandson of, etc etc. Again, somewhat manicured. The views here are spectacular, the garden become spectacle.
The wide pathways suggest that horses must have been used to ride from one place to another. Surely, Cosimo or Lorenzo or Alessandro would not have walked around in 90 degree heat to get to these places. My companion says the children would have been pushed in carts; perhaps there were carrying chairs for the dukes and duchesses. These wide paths were not meant to be walked for health.
The amphitheater suggests concerts or perhaps the kind of entertainments that Da Vinci and others would host, with water wheels and animated figures moved with clever designs that involved pulleys and weights.
To be carried up to the Knight’s Garden and have a chat with Cosimo the Second would be to look with him across all of Florence. Instead of pumping water into the desert, this is a garden from which to look down. Upon the rest, the others who fuel its grandeur. It’s not really about the plants.
