The Garden of Ninfa – an Eden full of delights
Lazio region has in store for you plenty of attractions and places off the beaten track. Especially in this season, thanks to the amazing climate, the possibilities multiply. In spring in fact Italy dresses other clothes and appears even more charming than usual. For this chapter of our travel saga we want to make discover you an Eden full of delights, the Ninfa Garden. This timeless place takes its name after a little temple of the Roman period consecrated to Naiads Nymphs, Fresh-Waters goddesses situated near the present garden.
PHOTO: wikimedia.org
Located in the province of Latina, this landscape garden has an area of 105 hectares and is an Italian natural monument. From April to November the park opens the gates to public to cherish its cheerful atmosphere among thousand different species of plants and flowers. A few kilometers for the metropolitan area you will find yourself immersed into a fairy-tale habitat with the river Ninfa, a lake-like body of water surrounded by a green paradise, its natural frame that make up the Pantanello natural park.
PHOTO: wikimedia.org
A perfect mix of history, botany and oddities, the multi-colored natural oasis of the garden of Ninfa hosts floral rarities, streams, climbers and exotic fruits that absorb also a lovely little lake and the ghost hamlet of Ninfa. During the guided tours visitors can enjoy the hortus conclusus that dates back to XVI Century and was ideated by a cardinal with a fad for botany, that created “the garden of his delights” not without peculiarities including a citrus grove, basins with swans and flows populated by African trouts. This singular spot attracted travelers and intellectuals since the nineteenth century, when the charm of the ruins drew visitors and intellectuals that loved its spectral aspect.
PHOTO: wikimedia.org
A German historian described the Garden of Ninfa as the «Pompeii of the Middle ages», describing it as a ghost place, magic and an indelible mark on the memory. At that time the noble family who owned it, the Caetani, decided to recover it adding an Anglo-Saxon and romantic touch. They reclaimed the swamplands, and started planting cypresses, holm oaks, beech trees and many beautiful roses of different species and in addition renovated some of the ruins, among which the palace, now location of the Roffredo Caetani Foundation.
PHOTO: wikimedia.org
Once there you will feel like being in another more green and distant corner of heaven with copious types of characteristic and rare vegetation and flowers like the paludal irises. Furthermore in spring cherry-trees and ornamental apple trees bloom in a spectacular way. Moreover, camelie, hollies and many classes of gorgeous climbing roses supported by the remains and extending their ample branches or framimeng the river, the streams, the paths or forming flowerbeds.
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PHOTO: wikimedia.org
We can admire the Rosa roxburghii, Rosa ‘Général Shablikine’, Rosa ‘Mutabilis’, Rosa hugoni, Rosa ‘Ballerina’, Rosa ‘Iceberg’, Rosa ‘Max Graf’, Rosa ‘Complicata’, Rosa ‘Penelope, Rosa ‘Buff Beauty”. On the top of that the mild climate allows the cultivation of tropical plants such as the avocado or the banana tree. Many small bushes offer not only their beauty but are needed also because they give hospitality to the numerous animals present there, more than 100 species classified.
