Le vie del mare: a colorful idea to visit the parks on the Ligurian coast

Villa Della Pergola, Alassio (SV)

“One of the wonders of the Riviera” so William Scott defined the Gardens of Villa della Pergola in his essay “The Riviera” 1907. Made in the late nineteenth century, the Gardens of Villa della Pergola represent a rare example of English garden in Italy, strictly linked to the history of the English Community in Alassio. Created in 1875 by General McMurdo, they passed, in the early 1900s, to Virginia Woolf’s cousin Sir Walter Darlymple and in 1922 to Daniel Hanbury who began an enrichment work drawing on the Mortola botanical gardens. The Park, restored by architect Paolo Peirone, covers an area of 22,000 square meters and is famous for the richness of its Mediterranean flora and exotic evergreen and for seasonal blooms. The Gardens host some important collections such as Glicini, with more than 30 varieties and the Agapanthus collection, unique in Europe, in terms of number and variety with over 400 species.

Villa Durazzo Pallavicini, Genova Pegli

The Pallavicini Park of Pegli, built between 1840 and 1846, designed by the architect Michele Canzio, at the behest of the Marquis Ignazio Alessandro Pallavicini, represents an excellence in the Italian and European romantic historical garden. A unique feature of this garden, spread over 8 hectares of hills, is that of being structured on a theatrical narrative with esoteric-Masonic nuances that make the visit a historical-cultural, landscape-botanical, but also meditative-philosophical experience. The tour itinerary is organized with scenes characterized by lakes, torrents, waterfalls, garden buildings, furnishings, rare plants, the oldest Italian collection of camellias, visual glimpses and ‘scenographic deceptions’ capable of appropriating the external panorama and dilating almost to infinity the boundaries of this “magical” place.

Villa Serra a Comago, Sant’Olcese (GE)

The Serra di Comago villa, with its 9-hectare English park, dates back to 1851, to a large and cultured reorganization in a neo-gothic style of the pre-existing Pinelli Gentile villa, its agricultural buildings and the valley bottom land of the Rio Comago. A picturesque tudor-style cottage and a crenellated tower, which became the hub for the entire design of the park, stood alongside the pre-existing buildings. Since 2005, the park has been equipped with the largest public collection of Hydrangee d’Italia, with about 2000 plants for over 260 varieties, both historic and cultivar.The park is public property, managed by the Villa Serra Consortium. In 1992 it was reopened to the public after a restoration that brought it back to its original lines, restoring visual axes, vegetation, routes and two lakes. It offers the local public, tourists and spouses refined, scenographic and elegant environments in a place deeply immersed in natural and suggestive landscapes.

La Cervara, Abbazia di San Girolamo al Monte di Portofino (GE)

The first inhabitants of the place were a few Benedictine monks who in 1361 founded a monastery dedicated to St. Jerome. What was once the garden of the monks, is today the only Italian Garden in Liguria overlooking the sea. The plants leaning against the walls or arranged along the borders are an integral part of the design of the Monumental Garden, as well as the vines of the ancient pergolas. In the flowerbeds, different flower species, to ensure blooms throughout the year, alternate with plants with colored foliage. The blooms of the centuries-old wisteria and of the rincospermo, or false jasmine, are important. In the Giardino dei Semplici, aromatic herbs alternate with a collection of rare potted citrus fruits.

Villa Durazzo – Santa Margherita Ligure

In the heart of the city, a large romantic park, overlooking the Gulf of Tigullio, encloses a splendid seventeenth-century villa. The historic park of Villa Durazzo extends for three hectares in a panoramic position in the city center and consists of three sections: the “Agrumeto”, the “Italian Garden”, from which you can enjoy a splendid view of the Gulf, characterized by hedges of box and myrtle, by numerous cycas plants and different varieties of nineteenth century camellias and the “English Romantic Forest” degrading along the slope of the hill, enriched by numerous species of exotic plants, statues and planters. The small Secret Garden, the Virna Lisi rose garden and the cobbled square with the typical Ligurian paving at risseu are romantic elements. The villa, built in 1678 by the Marquis Durazzo, contains an important Genoese school squares, antique furniture, refined Murano chandeliers and graniglia floors. The internal rooms and the external terraces are available for weddings, receptions, gala dinners, corporate events, photographic and film sets.