By Cheryl Rodewig
Cheryl Rodewig is an award-winning journalist, writing for The Guardian, Fodor’s and more. You can learn more about her here.
The 8 Most Beautiful Castle Gardens of Italy
Nothing sums up Old World beauty quite like a castle surrounded by lavish gardens. The weathered walls and lofty viewpoints, the fountains and flowers — it’s like stepping into a fairytale. Italy is lucky to have some of the world’s most romantic castle gardens. They come in all styles: carefully preserved medieval estates, aristocratic palaces, and scenic ruins where nature has taken over in colorful abandon. Each has a magic all its own. These are the ones you can’t miss.
Trauttmansdorff Castle
Trentino-Alto Adige
Trauttmansdorff Castle. Courtesy of The Gardens of Trauttmansdorff Castle
Sprawling over some 30 acres in the spa town of Meran, Trauttmansdorff Castle boasts more than 80 themed gardens. They range from a hedge maze to a lily pond to a field of lavender bright with purple every June. Surrounding the valley, snow-capped mountains lend a touch of drama to the scenery. Part of what makes these northern Italian gardens so unusual are the many interactive experiences. You can watch a multimedia show in the grotto or step into the Botanical Underworld carved into a hill. And then there’s the castle itself. Dating to the Middle Ages, it was renovated in the 1800s by a count who favored the neo-Gothic style. But there are influences from multiple eras, including a Rococo hall, a Renaissance fresco, and a 21st-century museum about Alpine tourism.
Villa Monastero
Lombardy
Villa Monastero. Photo credit: Davide Magnaghi
On the eastern shore of Lake Como sits a 12th-century Cistercian convent turned elegant villa, yet another mansion of the formerly rich and famous in this swanky resort region. But what makes the Villa Monastero different is its one-of-a-kind backyard: a botanical garden home to over 900 species of plants from across the globe. The gardens run alongside the lake for nearly a mile, a riot of palms and peonies, citrus and oleander. On the way, you’ll find marble statues, balustrades, faux temples, and other follies. Don’t skip the house museum. It dazzles right from the start with a soaring atrium featuring a double staircase, priceless art, and heavily engraved walls and arches. It’s all less than a five-minute walk from the main piazza in Varenna.
Miramare Castle
Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Miramare Castle. Photo Credit: Fabrice Gallina
The former home of an archduke and a princess, Miramare Castle is every bit the regal residence. Marvel at the gilded decor, chandeliers, coats of arms, sumptuous tapestries, and the red and gold throne room. Outside, the gleaming white Istrian stone, with crenelated roof and turret (the latter of which you can sometimes climb), towers over the rocky coast. Nearby, cannons given by King Leopold I stand guard. This archduke may have been a future emperor, but more importantly, for garden enthusiasts at least, he was an amateur botanist. Thanks to him, the surrounding 54-acre park is filled with exotic and native plants. Architectural features complement the scenery. There’s a woodland dotted with gazebos and ponds, a pergola dripping wisteria, a greenhouse, a “Swan Lake” by a lodge designed like a Swiss chalet, even a miniature castle called a castelletto.
Isola Bella
PIEMONTE
Isola Bella. Photo credit: Shutterstock
The aptly named Isola Bella is a small but stunning island almost completely taken up by an over-the-top ornate Baroque palace and its 10 terraces of gardens where peacocks roam and roses flourish. It’s a fanciful, wedding-cake confection of an island, a popular day trip from Milan that’s an absolute must if you’re in the area. First, explore the Palazzo Borromeo. Among other things, you’ll see a grand ballroom, a gallery of 130 paintings, and a grotto festooned with shell and stone mosaics. Outside, statues and trimmed hedges pair well with the seasonal blooms: camellias in March, azaleas in April, oleanders in June. The profusion of roses in May are always the crowd favorite. To top it all off, the focal point of the garden, the imposing Teatro Massimo, is decked with obelisks and crowned with a unicorn. Climb the pyramid for a picture-perfect view of the lake, garden, and mountains in the distance.
Giardino di Ninfa
Lazio
Giardino di Ninfa. Photo courtesy of Roffredo Caetani Foundation.
Among Italy’s many castle gardens, the Giardino di Ninfa is more garden than castle. The fortress that once stood here has long since devolved into ruins along with the medieval city of Ninfa. But in its place is something unique. While plenty of gardens have follies with artificial ruins, those in the 20-acre Garden of Ninfa are real. They include the remains of seven churches, parts of the castle, and old fortifications, reclaimed in the early 20th century as the foundation for a Romantic garden. Unlike traditional Italian gardens that follow form and symmetry, the gardens here seem (almost) to run wild. Roses clamor over stone walls. Streams meander through grassy meadows. Lavender, irises, magnolias, and more than 1,000 other plants thrive in the humid microclimate.To protect the delicate landscape, the gardens are only open on select days from spring to autumn. Book in advance to guarantee entry.
Villa d’Este
Lazio
Villa d’Este.
This UNESCO World Heritage Site is conveniently close to Rome, just 30 minutes away in the town of Tivoli. While the villa itself is impressive, with rooms covered floor to ceiling in frescoes and trompe l’oeil art, the garden is the real showstopper. You glimpse it first from the palace loggia, which looks across to the Apennine foothills. The garden below, carved into the hill, glitters with dozens of cascading fountains — an organ fountain that plays music, a fountain with a boat in it, an avenue of a hundred fountains. There are canals and ponds and fantastical creatures like dragons and nymphs, all spouting water, of course. One of Europe’s first giardini delle meraviglie, this “wonder garden” became the model for Renaissance gardens across Europe. As you wander the hedge-lined allées looking for hidden grottoes and mythical deities, you’ll understand why.
Aragonese Castle
Campania
Aragonese Castle.
Like your castles more remote? The Castello Aragonese looms in regal solitude on its own rocky islet, accessible via a stone footbridge from another island (Ischia) in the Bay of Naples. To get to the castle, it’s a winding walk up narrow streets and staircases that open onto picturesque courtyards and overlooks. Along with the fortress dating to the 5th century BC, the island features several churches, a crypt, what’s left of a 16th-century convent, two cafes, cellars, a Bourbon prison, various art exhibits, and a wealth of lush vegetation. Flower lovers will enjoy the monastery terrace, fragrant with jasmine and bougainvillea. The Sun Route is also pleasant, not only for its bright pink blooms, pomegranates, and olive trees, but also the spectacular seaside panoramas.
Villa Rufolo
CAMPANIA
When famed composer Richard Wagner first saw the Villa Rufolo, he claimed he’d finally found the enchanted garden of his yet-unfinished opera “Parsifal.” It’s no wonder the setting inspired him. The site is a heady mix of Moorish towers, dozens of columns and arches, and geometric flower beds, all with sweeping views of the Amalfi Coast. Stroll among the hydrangeas, umbrella pines, and cypress trees, and admire the distinctive architecture of the villa complex, the core of which dates to the 13th century. It includes a cloister, ruins of ancient baths, and the three-story Torre Maggiore you can climb, but the two-tiered Romantic garden, called the “Garden of the Soul,” is what draws visitors from around the world. If you’re visiting in summer, be sure to catch the annual Ravello Festival, hosting concerts in the garden amphitheater.
