Product Description

This inspirational book is an illustrated survey of more than 60 major gardens in Italy, from the lakes north of Milan down to Ravello in the south. They include the Villa Balbianello, Isola Bella, Giardini Giusti, Villa Medici, Villa Gamberaia, La Mortella, Villa Lante, Villa d'Este, Giardini di Ninfa, plus some important modern gardens. All the gardens featured are open to the public.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #69834 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 208 pages

Italia, December 13 2005
'production quality is superb throughout ... hundreds of stunning photographs . . . a decent amount of informative text to accompany them.'

Homes & Property, Evening Standard , December 7 2005
'beautifully illustrated book'

The Book Place, December 05
highly readable prose . . . stunning photographs ... makes the reader almost believe they are walking around the gardens with her

Customer Reviews

Rating 4+ Excellent and beautifully illustrated
Rating: 4+ - Beautifully illustrated
I give the book 4+ rating. Sixty gardens is of course a personal selection of gardens by the author. ButI miss a few of the historic and design-wise interesting places. Le Marche is not represented and Villa Barbarigo is also missing, along with some smaller, but exquisite gardens scattered over the peninsula. That said, the photos are great and most of the more famous places are well illustrated. I cannot see who of which has photographed - the author or Ake E:son Lindman. The text is not deep-probing and exploring academic, but describing the place with impressions, interviews with experts, owners and facts. In some places I miss photos of the garden details described in the text, but as a whole the book is laid out very good. Some gardens only have one page, while others well-deserved spread out on several pages. The design is airy and elegant and give space for the wonderful photographs. The book is the best I have seen for a long time. But the best book on the subject is still Georgina Massons 'Italian Gardens' from the 1950's. Very strange...

"Highly readable prose and stunning photographs"
LONG A MECCA for gardeners, Italy boasts an enormous range of stunning gardens from lakeside idylls to cliff top retreats, formal palazzos and woodland sanctuaries.
Author Ann Laras gives a highly personal account of her trip around 60 Italian gardens, using her love of Italianate gardens and horticultural history to punctuate her highly readable prose. With a keen eye on detail, plants and atmosphere, the picture she paints, along with the stunning photographs of Ake E:son Lindman, makes the reader almost believe they are walking around the gardens with her. Her descriptions of the many gargoyles, water features, statuary and grottoes reveal her love of the place and its people, its history and heritage.
With theatrical flourishes, the gardens of Italy are more than just gardens as we know them. They are stage sets for romance, history, partying and reflection. With stunning backdrops these jewels of Italy are depicted to best advantage, sea, mountains, valleys and lake-side all falling perfectly into place with man's creations.
From the famous Ninfa to Villa d'Este to the more secretive and harder to find Villa Gamberaia and Giardiini della Landriana, transport yourself to a horticultural paradise of designs old and new, traditional and contemporary from a land that could, possibly, rival that of England for their beautiful gardens.

Think twice about who should get "The Gardens of Italy"...
Think twice about who should get "The Gardens of Italy" (by Ann Laras, Frances Lincoln, $50) because the photos alone could send even a devoted homebody rushing across the ocean to visit the Abbey of La Cervara or the Villa Durazzo. From Tuscan courtyards to the estates of the DeMedici, all these gardens are open to the public. But this is more than a mouth-watering lure of a travel book. It does a fine job illustrating these gardens' timeless design, where plants are secondary to art and architecture, and all is subservient to the immense beauty of the Italian countryside. Valerie Easton, Seattle Times 2005