News Lifestyle

Italy's five must-see gardens, according to The New York Times

By: Wanted in Rome

Date:

16 May, 2025

**Five of the world's 25 must-see gardens in The New York Times list can be found in Italy**.

Italy fares extremely well in 'The 25 Essential Gardens to See in Your Lifetime', a list put together by six horticultural experts and published recently by The New York Times.

Italy and the UK topped the list, each with five gardens, with three of the Italian gardens located in the Lazio region around Rome, one in Tuscany and one in the northern Piemonte region.

Ninfa

Italy's highest-ranked garden, Ninfa, came in third place on the list. Located about 80 km south-east of Rome, near Sermoneta, this romantic English-style garden has over 10,000 shrubs, plants and flowering trees from all over the world. Belonging to the Caetani family since the 14th century, the site was abandoned in 1382 but in the early 1920s the Caetani family began to create the eight-hectare garden as it is today.

Villa Gamberia

In 19th place are the gardens of Villa Gamberaia in the Tuscan hillside village Settignano near Florence. Edith Wharton, in her 1904 book Italian Villas and Their Gardens, described the one-hectare garden as “probably the most perfect example of the art of producing a great effect on a small scale.” The space is arranged as "a long, grassy bowling green opening onto a series of small garden rooms", The New York Times writes, and is composed mostly of cypress, boxwood, yew, oak, lemon and olive trees, with mixed borders of lavender, irises and roses.

Villa D'Este

Ranked 21st on the list, this spectacular Renaissance garden in Tivoli, about an hour's drive north-east of Rome, was commissioned by Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este in the 16th century and is a marvel of hydraulic engineering. A UNESCO World Heritage site, Villa d'Este is characterised by elaborate terraced gardens featuring a stunning array of fountains, cascades, pools and water jets, with grottoes and nymphs revealed at every turn. Photo credit: OSTILL is Franck Camhi / Shutterstock.com.

Sacro Bosco in Bomarzo

Number 22 is more of a wild and wondrous sculpture park than a garden. Located more than an hour north of Rome, this 16th-century "park of monsters" in Bomarzo was designed by Renaissance architect Pirro Ligorio. The Sacred Wood contains dozens of sculptures including the unforgettable Orcus, the winged horse Pegasus, the Sleeping Nymph and the Leaning House, with "labyrinthine paths that encourage visitors to get lost in its eerie beauty", according to The New York Times.

Villa Silvio Pellico-Vigna Barolo

The last Italian garden on the list, in 24th place, is the Vigna Barolo in Moncalieri near Turin. Dating to the 18th century, the gardens were transformed in 1948 by the celebrated British garden designer Russell Page who settled on a cruciform layout. "A vertical axis of clipped evergreens leads the eye through a double parterre, past a reflecting pool and toward a labyrinth of low hedging - The New York Times writes - "The square pool at the garden’s axis is flanked by a simple pool on either side, executed with characteristic understatement." Photo credit Villa Silvio Pellico.

Cover photo Ninfa