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The British have long
been entranced by Italy,
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its beautiful countryside,
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the enduring traditions of art and culture,
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and, of course, its extraordinary gardens.
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I'm taking a journey
throughout the whole of Italy,
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visiting beautiful gardens everywhere I go.
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You come and immediately you feel inspired.
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I'll be in Florence, where gardens
grew from the Renaissance ideals.
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In every direction, you see
balance, order and harmony.
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And Naples, with unexpectedly
intimate glimpses behind displays
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of astonishing grandeur.
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This is a peek at her bum, and I like
the sense of what the butler saw.
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I'll be looking in on the gardens
of the rich and the famous.
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So, what's this one here?
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- Mr Clooney's place.
- Yeah, I can see why he might want to live there.
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As well as meeting local Italians growing
some of the best food in the world.
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It's very good.
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But my journey begins in Rome, the
seat of emperors and popes, to visit
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gardens that are amongst the most
flamboyant ever created in history.
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Tourists have been flocking to
Rome for hundreds of years,
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to feast on the astonishing architectural
richness of its classical past.
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But many also come to
see its great gardens,
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most of which originate from a
brief but golden age of gardening.
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In a 50-year period from about 1550, there
was suddenly an explosion of garden-making -
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extraordinary, magnificent gardens -
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and you have to wonder, why then?
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Why round here, Rome?
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And also, why gardens?
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To find out, I'm going to visit the most spectacular
of the gardens from this period, in and around Rome.
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As well as getting to know these iconic
gardens, I'll also be exploring the lives
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and the turbulent times of the enormously
powerful and wealthy men that made them.
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Now, the greatest wealth and
power in 16th-century Italy
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was not in the hands of bankers
or kings, but of the church.
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The most powerful group of people
in Rome in the 16th century
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were the cardinals, and they all had their
eyes fixed on just one seat of power,
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and that was the papacy.
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The Pope was the most influential
man in the Christian world.
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Every living soul in 16th-century Europe
was either fiercely for or against him.
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He had the greatest art
collection in the world,
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the greatest power, and
access to vast wealth.
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This intoxicating combination
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was the prize that every aspiring
cardinal greedily desired.
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You have to picture Rome round about
the middle of the 16th century
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as a place that was asserting
itself, and they were saying,
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"We are the powerful people,
this is God's city."
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And right here in the Vatican, the single
most powerful place on the planet,
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God's representative ruling it,
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and that gave the cardinals and the
people working around the Vatican
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an extraordinary sense of power,
and brashness and confidence,
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and that's the context in which you have to
set these gardens that they were making.
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When a pope died,
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the cardinals elected one of
their members to succeed him.
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However, in the 16th century,
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this was less a measure of
their spiritual qualities
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and more a result of how influential,
rich and cultured they were,
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and one way to demonstrate these attributes
was by making an awe-inspiring garden.
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I'm heading off an hour north
to Villa Farnese in Caprarola,
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which is a small town in the
province of Viterbo, about 40 miles
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from the centre of Rome, to visit one of these
great gardens made by a power-hungry cardinal.
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I've come to Villa Farnese mainly
because I've always wanted to see it
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but the reason why people have
come here in such great numbers
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is because it is generally reckoned to
be one of the most perfect examples
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of a surviving Renaissance garden.
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This was the home of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese
II, of the distinguished Farnese family.
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His grandfather was Pope Paul III.
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Pope Paul had originally
commissioned the building
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as a fortified castle, at a time when
Rome was almost constantly at war.
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But by the time the cardinal
inherited it, in 1549,
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all that had been built of this fortress
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were the five-sided footings.
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So in 1556, Farnese hired the
architect Giacomo Vignola
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to built an enormous palace on these existing foundations
and to create the latest fashionable accessory -
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a beautiful Renaissance garden.
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There's no doubt that we have this idea that Italian
gardens are all formality, clipped hedges, green -
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at best a very mannered, calm,
stately type of garden, but at worst
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rather bleak, even hard and harsh,
compared to our love of flowers,
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and I think that's one of the things
I want to know, what were they like?
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How have they evolved? And
is what we're seeing now
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a true picture of Italian gardens as
they've developed through history?
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By the 1560s, when this garden was made, the
Renaissance had been in full swing for over 100 years
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and had produced an unprecedented
flowering of new ideas in art,
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architecture, literature,
science and philosophy,
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with artists such as Raphael,
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Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.
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00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:29,799
But this wasn't just about
paintings and sculpture.
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The Renaissance also launched the idea
that a garden could be a work of art.
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To find out more about
this garden in particular,
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and Renaissance gardens in
general, I meet Giorgio Galletti,
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a garden historian who's restored
a number of Renaissance gardens
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like Villa Farnese.
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The ideas of order, and
symmetry and harmony
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were key parts of Renaissance
thought, weren't they?
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Vignola used pure geometry, and
also he designed his garden
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on pure geometry according
to a square grid.
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Architecture, not only gardens,
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should be based on a pure geometry.
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The idea of, the man should recreate
the harmony of the universe,
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and it has to be very simple
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and very feasible to be understood by man.
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Right.
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This grid-like formality
might appear constraining
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to modern British gardeners, but
it was designed to create order
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out of chaos, placing man in
controlled, and controlling,
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harmony with nature.
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As you climb steep steps
to the top of the garden,
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you leave the ordered formality
behind and enter the bosco,
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which was a wood designed for
the cardinal and his guests
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to indulge in his greatest pleasure -
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hunting prey ranging from
wild boar to songbirds.
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It's best to think of the garden
as a process, or a journey.
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So you've gone from the ordered
gardens down by the villa,
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then up through the bosco - this
place of excitement, of hunting,
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of wild animals and nature red in
tooth and claw, but controlled -
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and then, as you come through the end of the
bosco, there's a clearing, and in front of you...
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is this apparition.
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It's a fairy palace, it's an
extraordinary, rich creation
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rising up out of the ground,
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and you've reached this
state of absolute beauty.
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00:10:03,920 --> 00:10:08,479
This is where Alessandro Farnese
entertained his fellow cardinals
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and anyone - and in truth, that was
everyone - that he wished to impress.
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It is an astonishing ethereal
fantasy that is built from stone,
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water, vast riches and an
even greater ambition.
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The water features and sculpted
cascades pointedly demonstrate
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his culture and sophistication and,
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00:10:32,120 --> 00:10:37,119
at every turn, you can see clear
symbols celebrating the greatness
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of the Farnese dynasty.
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All this fun and games was really part
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of power play.
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The most important thing that this
is saying is, "I am a powerful man".
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Think of this water being channelled down
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in this marvellous staircase
of water, made by dolphins.
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Well, any visitor would have
known the dolphin was the crest
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of the Farnese family.
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Alessandro's grandfather had been here.
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He'd tasted it, he'd been
close to the seat of power,
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so he had about him this sense of right,
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and the garden expresses that.
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The river gods, the water coming from
their cornucopias, go into a glass.
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This is the fountain of the glass.
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The idea of taking rivers, drinking
them, holding them in your hand -
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this wouldn't have gone unnoticed.
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So the symbolism is almost as
important as the aesthetic beauty.
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Despite the jostling for position
that went on between cardinals,
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it was a very small world
that they moved in,
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and many would dine and
hunt together as friends.
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So when Farnese created this garden, fully ten
years after the lower gardens were completed,
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he turned to a fellow cardinal,
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who himself had made a great
garden nearby, for some advice.
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This palazzina, a rather grand
building up here at the top,
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was recommended to Farnese by his
neighbour, Cardinal Gambarra,
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at Villa Lante, who fundamentally said,
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"Look, old chap, you've got gout.
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"Like me you find it a bit tricky when you're
having your dinners outside on a summer's evening.
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"Build yourself a shed at the
end of the garden." So he did.
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Very nice shed it is, too, and it
was up here that they would relax.
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The power play would be done and
there would be wine and song,
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if not women.
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This garden is formed from
an elaborate parterre
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of crisp box hedging, superb sculptures
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and the delightful play of water.
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However, there is a notable
absence of flowers of any kind.
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Yet, according to Giorgio Galletti,
Renaissance gardens like Farnese
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would originally have
been filled with colour.
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There was a kind of symbolic flower garden,
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particularly a lot of lemon pots.
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When there was the fashion of the
bulbs, all the cardinals and princes,
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they were in competition
to buy the rarest bulb.
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Right. I you talk to most people
in England now, they will say,
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"But there are no flowers, it's all just evergreens
and shapes and it's very beautiful, but limited".
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So what you're saying is
that was never the case?
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Not in the Renaissance. There
were jasmines, crocuses, lilies,
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that was very important
for the Farnese family,
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because it was in their coat of arms,
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and parts of small topiary in box.
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So what happened to all the flowers?
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Villa Farnese became
abandoned and overgrown
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when garden fashions changed
and it wasn't restored
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until the 20th century.
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In many gardens like Farnese,
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the only planting to survive was the box
hedging, which in fact was often not original,
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so restorers assumed that Renaissance
gardens were flowerless.
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It is quite a shock when you realise that the image
of the Renaissance garden is actually inaccurate.
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It wasn't like that, and that
they wouldn't have used box
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and it wouldn't have been green,
and they would have had flowers.
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And when I came to this top section,
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I stood here for a bit thinking,
"Well, I don't get it,
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"I just don't feel any response to this
rather flat open space and the green grass."
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And it wasn't until I learnt that
actually it wasn't like this,
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it was full of flowers, it was like a physic
garden with beds, with beautiful specimens
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that they were gathering and
were being given as presents.
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When you think about it, why
shouldn't Renaissance gardeners
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have enjoyed flowers every
bit as much as we do?
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And I need to undo these
preconceptions I have
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of Italian gardens as being all
about shape and structure and form,
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and start to fill in the gaps with
flowers and the pleasure of flowers,
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just like I have in my own garden.
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Alessandro died in 1589, just a few years
after the palazzina was completed,
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but his garden remained hugely
influential, particularly
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to his fellow cardinals, vying to outdo each
other with the magnificence of their gardens.
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The great outpouring of art and
culture in the Renaissance,
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with its emphasis on harmony and order,
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was in part a reaction
to centuries of chaos.
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00:15:41,640 --> 00:15:45,919
Throughout the whole medieval period,
Italy was a patchwork of warring states,
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00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:49,839
and it had also been particularly
devastated by the Black Death,
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wiping out a third of its population, so
by the beginning of the 15th century,
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the Renaissance was inspired
by looking back to the glories
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of ancient Rome, which until then
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00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:04,919
had been almost completely ignored.
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00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:09,839
So I am now heading 15 miles east
of Rome to an archaeological site
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that had an enormous influence
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on the great 16th-century
burst of garden making.
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This is Villa Adriana, which was
built almost 2,000 years ago
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00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:30,480
by the Western world's most
powerful man, the Emperor Hadrian.
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00:16:36,760 --> 00:16:39,879
The reason I've come to Hadrian's
villa is not so much to admire
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00:16:39,880 --> 00:16:43,519
the garden, because that
hasn't survived 2,000 years.
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This hasn't been quietly growing for
all that period, it's all recreated.
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00:16:47,960 --> 00:16:50,999
But there is enough evidence,
enough of the layout,
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00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:54,999
to provide the spark that lit the
fire for Renaissance gardens.
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00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:57,839
Although you can go to Renaissance
gardens and you'll enjoy it -
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00:16:57,840 --> 00:17:00,959
you don't need to know everything
about it, it's just lovely -
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00:17:00,960 --> 00:17:03,559
if you want to know the
story and to understand it,
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00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:07,960
you have to pick up the threads,
starting here in Hadrian's villa.
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00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:17,919
Hadrian built his villa in the early
decades of the 2nd century AD,
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at the same time as his famous wall was being built
across the border between England and Scotland.
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00:17:25,120 --> 00:17:27,999
This was the emperor's palace,
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00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:34,319
his court, and the military
headquarters for Rome's vast empire.
227
00:17:34,320 --> 00:17:37,319
Hadrian travelled more widely
than any other emperor
228
00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:40,279
and his gardens were directly inspired
229
00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:44,720
by ancient Greek and Egyptian
architecture and mythology.
230
00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:51,439
For hundreds and hundreds of
years, the ruins just lay there,
231
00:17:51,440 --> 00:17:54,199
ignored, and people
didn't pay them any mind,
232
00:17:54,200 --> 00:17:57,559
and it wasn't till the beginning of the Renaissance
that people began reading the literature
233
00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:00,159
and looking at the ruins,
putting two and two together
234
00:18:00,160 --> 00:18:02,279
and realising that there was
something special here,
235
00:18:02,280 --> 00:18:07,599
and gradually the columns, and the
statues, and the water features
236
00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:11,799
began to be potential that they could use
in their own gardens and their own houses.
237
00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:15,759
Now, if you think about it,
we still take it for granted
238
00:18:15,760 --> 00:18:19,079
there are columns and statues
and temples in grand gardens.
239
00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:21,519
But none of that existed
240
00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:25,360
before the Renaissance
rediscovered the classical world.
241
00:18:32,360 --> 00:18:35,839
The part of this enormous, sprawling site
242
00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:39,879
that most excited Renaissance
visitors was the canopus,
243
00:18:39,880 --> 00:18:44,439
which was a long colonnaded pool
with statues all the way around,
244
00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:49,560
culminating in a large banqueting hall
with a great arched and domed opening.
245
00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:58,359
I've arranged to meet Marina
de Franceschini here,
246
00:18:58,360 --> 00:19:02,319
an archaeologist who's been studying
the villa for the last 20 years,
247
00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:07,560
to find out just why the canopus was so important
for Renaissance artists and architects.
248
00:19:09,200 --> 00:19:15,479
I feel like dwarf, because if I think that here all
the greatest architects of all times have come.
249
00:19:15,480 --> 00:19:19,399
Palladio, Pirro Ligorio,
Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael
250
00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:23,919
- and everybody else, so you...
- Yeah, yeah.
251
00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:27,399
But everybody was coming
here to take inspiration
252
00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:30,839
and also because they were
looking for measurements.
253
00:19:30,840 --> 00:19:35,039
They were looking for the magical
formula that would give them
254
00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:37,319
the perfect proportion of buildings
255
00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:41,439
and also they were trying to
understand the secret of building
256
00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:45,839
a place like this, that is still
standing after so many centuries,
257
00:19:45,840 --> 00:19:48,080
a thousand years of neglect.
258
00:19:53,120 --> 00:19:54,519
The visiting 16th-century architects
259
00:19:54,520 --> 00:19:59,359
came here not just to admire the
aesthetics of the building,
260
00:19:59,360 --> 00:20:01,879
but to re-discover practical
engineering knowledge
261
00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:06,839
that had been lost since the
fall of the Roman Empire.
262
00:20:06,840 --> 00:20:10,839
One vital lost skill was how to
transport vast quantities of water.
263
00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:15,639
Hadrian used a ten-mile long
aqueduct just to supply
264
00:20:15,640 --> 00:20:18,879
the villa's countless pools and fountains,
265
00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:23,759
and the sheer volume of water
needed for pools designed to cool
266
00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:25,839
and reflect light into buildings
267
00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:30,839
was a clear demonstration of the
emperor's knowledge and power.
268
00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:34,079
- You must imagine the water was flowing down.
- Down here?
269
00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:35,639
- Down there.
- Yeah.
270
00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:42,319
And then was flowing in these channels, and the
middle water in this inner channel coming down.
271
00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:45,759
So water playing, water
moving and overflowing and...
272
00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:49,719
Oh, yeah. Water was a way to show
the power of the emperor, because
273
00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:54,319
we know that there was an aqueduct to
bring in water from the Aniene River.
274
00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:56,719
But the water was part of the garden.
275
00:20:56,720 --> 00:21:00,399
In a sense, it wasn't a practical
purpose, it was for decorating.
276
00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:04,239
- Yeah.
- And where did they eat? How did that happen?
277
00:21:04,240 --> 00:21:08,279
- So they were lying here... - On here?
- On this. - So you lie on top of here?
278
00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:13,839
Yeah, you must imagine that there
were cushions. Pillows. Yeah.
279
00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:15,999
And then there were the servants
280
00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:17,799
bringing food, bringing drinks
281
00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:20,719
and also I believe that over there,
282
00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:23,639
there was a place for the emperor,
283
00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:26,519
because that was the best place.
284
00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:31,119
Imagine Hadrian, what kind of nice
garden parties he was having here.
285
00:21:31,120 --> 00:21:34,079
- Yeah, yeah.
- Really something exceptional.
286
00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:39,119
And the lake and the water itself, would
they have had boats or anything like that?
287
00:21:39,120 --> 00:21:44,439
There were small boats, with
people having feasts and orgies,
288
00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:47,239
but mainly the beauty of the lake
289
00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:50,039
was the reflection of the landscape.
290
00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:54,719
You must imagine also a dinner party
in the evening with candlelight.
291
00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:58,879
With just the sound of music, dancers.
292
00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:03,639
It was really something beautiful
to see, and something impressive.
293
00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:06,600
No, I'm impressed. Definitely.
294
00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:17,919
Now, round the back of these
seating areas is a doorway
295
00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:20,479
and the public aren't allowed
in here, but they've let me in
296
00:22:20,480 --> 00:22:23,559
because it leads to the
emperor's private quarters,
297
00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:26,200
and presumably there were guards in here.
298
00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:35,999
Now, this is where Hadrian would
have his dinner, so all his guests
299
00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:39,599
reclining down below, and remember
these are just the selected few,
300
00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:44,799
but he was on his own up here, and
there was water and a pool here,
301
00:22:44,800 --> 00:22:48,559
and in the alcoves you've got
gods, you've got statues.
302
00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:50,839
Now, you have to imagine
this lined with marble,
303
00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:54,279
so light spangling off
the walls, white marble,
304
00:22:54,280 --> 00:22:58,519
and this god-like emperor
bathed in a halo of light.
305
00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:03,279
And it would have been really
powerful stuff, so that the garden,
306
00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:07,439
the emperor, delicious food and song
and entertainment and light, water,
307
00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:12,759
all coming together and you can see,
if you take that leap of imagination
308
00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:14,879
and then apply it to the Renaissance
309
00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:18,199
and these powerful cardinals,
they want some of that magic.
310
00:23:18,200 --> 00:23:20,440
They want Hadrian's magic, best of all.
311
00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:36,279
1,400 years later,
312
00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:41,559
one man set out to recapture the
emperor's magic with his garden,
313
00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:44,159
or even to outreach it.
314
00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:48,119
The setting for this is just a mile
up the hill from Hadrian's villa,
315
00:23:48,120 --> 00:23:50,080
in the small town of Tivoli.
316
00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:01,359
The garden I'm about to visit
317
00:24:01,360 --> 00:24:08,359
was made by the most powerful, the most ambitious and
the richest of all that pack of powerful cardinals
318
00:24:08,360 --> 00:24:10,959
that were milling around the papacy
319
00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:14,519
and he was given the governorship
of Tivoli as a reward.
320
00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:17,559
But it was a double-edged sword,
because it kept him out of Rome.
321
00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:23,280
And he poured his wealth and his ambition and,
to some extent his frustration, into his garden.
322
00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:29,199
This man was Cardinal Ippolito d'Este,
323
00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:33,559
and his garden harnessed water
and made it dance and perform
324
00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:36,320
like no other before or since.
325
00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:04,519
I've been to Villa d'Este
a few times before.
326
00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:07,759
You come in from the top but
originally, it was designed
327
00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:13,239
to arrive at the bottom of the garden, and then
the visitor would slowly climb up this hill,
328
00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:16,239
amazed at all the wonders they
were seeing and thoroughly puffed
329
00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:18,439
by the time they reached the top.
330
00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:22,759
And that's how it was originally designed, so that
it would unfold and reveal itself and, by the time
331
00:25:22,760 --> 00:25:28,880
you reached the top, which is where the cardinal would
have been, you were in a state of breathless awe.
332
00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:34,559
Cardinal d'Este had vast wealth,
333
00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:37,519
and an overwhelming desire to become pope.
334
00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:40,799
When he failed in his
first attempt in 1549,
335
00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:45,719
he hired Rome's most distinguished
architect, Pirro Ligorio,
336
00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:50,560
to create the biggest and most ambitious
water garden since Hadrian's villa.
337
00:25:52,080 --> 00:25:57,079
Ligorio demolished whole streets to make
room for the garden on the steep hillside,
338
00:25:57,080 --> 00:26:02,079
and built a sophisticated system to
bring water from a nearby aqueduct.
339
00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:08,280
In today's money, all this would
cost a cool £100 million.
340
00:26:10,760 --> 00:26:13,999
But this wasn't just a matter
of d'Este displaying his wealth
341
00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:16,679
and artistic taste, although
it was certainly that.
342
00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:21,759
He also intended to impress visitors with
the depth of his scientific knowledge.
343
00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:26,800
And these were truly astonishing
feats of hydro-engineering.
344
00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:42,919
The scale of the water is
just ridiculous, really.
345
00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:47,879
Miles over the top, but what d'Este did was
re-channel the water supplying the town,
346
00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:52,439
and took a third of it - a third
of the town's water supply -
347
00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:57,479
to make his garden, so having
done that, then he was determined
348
00:26:57,480 --> 00:27:00,799
to do something big with it,
349
00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:04,319
so he had an enormous
hydro-technical display
350
00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:07,519
and it still remains the most
impressive I've ever seen,
351
00:27:07,520 --> 00:27:10,999
and it all comes from one source,
and there's no pumps at all.
352
00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:15,160
The whole thing is powered by pressure,
so they knew what they were up to.
353
00:27:28,120 --> 00:27:29,879
By studying Villa Adriana,
354
00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:32,879
Renaissance architects
re-discovered ways of taming water
355
00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:36,759
that had been lost for a thousand years.
356
00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:40,999
They found they could control the
water's speed and movement using
357
00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:44,959
different size pipes and spouts
and, with this new knowledge,
358
00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:47,479
the artistic ambition of gardens
359
00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:51,480
rose to new and astonishing
creative heights.
360
00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:58,959
This is the Terrace of 100 Fountains.
361
00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:00,560
Took five years to make.
362
00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:07,759
It uses water that comes from a single source, no
pump, all the fountains have the same velocity,
363
00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:12,519
the same rhythm, the same sound,
and it builds up as we walk along.
364
00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:15,320
It's like a musical instrument.
365
00:28:29,160 --> 00:28:32,799
Now, poor old Cardinal
d'Este, he hardly saw this.
366
00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:37,239
It took five years at the end of
his life and then was completed,
367
00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:39,959
and behind this beauty is
a nagging pain for him,
368
00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:43,839
because the three layers of water
represent rivers leading to Rome,
369
00:28:43,840 --> 00:28:50,160
and of course, that's where d'Este wasn't, and
that's where d'Este most of all wanted to be.
370
00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:57,759
In the two decades it took
to construct his garden,
371
00:28:57,760 --> 00:29:03,719
Cardinal d'Este made five failed
bids for the papal throne.
372
00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:07,559
At every setback, his garden
got grander and grander,
373
00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:11,280
and the coded messages it sent
out became ever more pointed.
374
00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:15,919
The waters of the 100 Fountains
375
00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:21,239
flow down here to a garden called
Rometta and the story behind it is
376
00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:25,319
that the Pope forbade Cardinal
d'Este to build a palace in Rome,
377
00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:28,359
because he knew that he
would challenge his power,
378
00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:30,719
so d'Este petulantly said,
379
00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:34,239
"OK, I can't have my palace in Rome,
380
00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:37,159
"I'll have Rome in my palace."
381
00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:39,320
And so he built a model of Rome.
382
00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:45,119
Rometta was originally more
than twice its current size,
383
00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:48,079
but most of it was demolished
in the 19th century.
384
00:29:48,080 --> 00:29:49,999
However, in the 16th century,
385
00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:54,519
d'Este's guests would have been
able to see an elaborate model
386
00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:58,879
encompassing the whole of Rome,
and thus the power of the papacy
387
00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:02,799
in his garden, with its own
Pantheon and a Coliseum,
388
00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:06,159
and they certainly would have
understood the message intended
389
00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:10,960
by this statue of Romulus and Remus,
the founding fathers of Rome.
390
00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:15,279
I think what this garden really displays -
391
00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:20,199
they didn't really go for meditative calm or
obvious floral beauty in the way that we do.
392
00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:23,799
What they wanted were fun and
games, they wanted drama,
393
00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:26,239
and apparently this was d'Este's
favourite bit of the garden,
394
00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:30,719
and he used to put on theatrical performances
here and there were all sorts of things going on.
395
00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:35,719
There were fountains, there was allegory, there
are people prancing about dressed up, no doubt.
396
00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:39,120
The whole thing is busy with drama,
and that's the way they liked it.
397
00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:46,679
The simplicity, symmetry and harmony
of early Renaissance gardens
398
00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:51,239
were being replaced by a new
fashion for the dramatic.
399
00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:56,599
Gardens now engaged and entertained
the visitor with spectacular,
400
00:30:56,600 --> 00:31:01,239
highly theatrical displays, and there
was a new spirit of playfulness,
401
00:31:01,240 --> 00:31:04,639
with a constant intent
to surprise and delight,
402
00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:09,600
typically with water jokes, designed to give you
a good soaking when you were least expecting it.
403
00:31:16,360 --> 00:31:19,679
This fountain, by the way,
is meant to surprise you.
404
00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:22,639
It suddenly springs up and I have
actually been here before when
405
00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:26,839
it became even more playful,
so it may happen any minute.
406
00:31:26,840 --> 00:31:31,119
But the whole point was to have jokes. Gardens
were places to delight, and surprise,
407
00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:35,759
and amaze and entertain you,
and if you'd got money,
408
00:31:35,760 --> 00:31:39,239
then of course that entertainment
can get very elaborate indeed,
409
00:31:39,240 --> 00:31:42,680
and this whole square can fill with water.
410
00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:48,639
To the modern eye, d'Este's garden
seems somewhat kitsch and garish,
411
00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:53,359
but this was a world where
moneyed good taste ran easily
412
00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:55,919
from Palestrina masses and Michelangelo
413
00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:58,240
to musical water fountains.
414
00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:04,959
There's a common perception that
Cardinal d'Este built this garden
415
00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:10,599
out of anger and frustration because he couldn't
be pope, but I think, I'm not sure that's right.
416
00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:15,439
I think that, obviously, he did want to
be pope and he was very cross about it,
417
00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:20,239
but I think the really interesting
thing is that he lived in an age
418
00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:22,639
when very powerful, very rich men
419
00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:26,959
expressed that power and
that creative energy
420
00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:29,519
by building a garden.
421
00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:33,719
I mean, just as now an oligarch
buy himself a football team
422
00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:39,119
or a newspaper, it seems to be that
it was acceptable to make a garden,
423
00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:41,639
and that would impress other rich men.
424
00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:45,999
And so what we have is a
flowering, where wealth and power
425
00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:50,200
expressed itself in gardens, and I can't
think of another age when that was true.
426
00:32:57,760 --> 00:33:01,559
Despite all his wealth and all his power,
427
00:33:01,560 --> 00:33:05,159
d'Este ran up huge debts
creating his garden,
428
00:33:05,160 --> 00:33:07,800
and he never did become pope.
429
00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:18,879
Back in the centre of Rome, the Borghese Gardens
were originally built for the Borghese family
430
00:33:18,880 --> 00:33:25,160
in Renaissance times, but are today managed by the
state, and are the city's most popular public space.
431
00:33:35,200 --> 00:33:38,799
There are a few great public gardens
in Rome, and my favourite of these,
432
00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:42,119
the ones at Villa Borghese,
come here on a Sunday -
433
00:33:42,120 --> 00:33:47,359
I'm losing my ice cream - or a
Bank Holiday, they're packed,
434
00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:53,040
mainly with local people using them, playing,
enjoying, walking in these exquisite gardens.
435
00:33:56,360 --> 00:34:00,199
It's just a lovely place to come
and relax with the local Romans,
436
00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:04,039
and it's certainly worlds apart
from the Rome of 500 years ago.
437
00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:10,319
The confidence and even arrogance displayed by
the 16th-century cardinals through their gardens
438
00:34:10,320 --> 00:34:16,879
superficially exudes a sense of invincibility, but
in fact, it was a turbulent and uneasy period.
439
00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:20,359
Just a few years earlier, Rome had
endured one of the worst traumas
440
00:34:20,360 --> 00:34:26,320
of its entire history at the hands of the Holy
Roman emperor, the Spanish King Charles V.
441
00:34:27,840 --> 00:34:32,439
It's all too easy to build up this
picture of high Renaissance Rome
442
00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:36,599
as this glorious place, untroubled,
with great and grand men in control,
443
00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:40,719
but in fact in 1527, there
was the Sack of Rome,
444
00:34:40,720 --> 00:34:46,839
and 30,000 troops of Charles V
came in and pillaged and raped
445
00:34:46,840 --> 00:34:48,719
and destroyed the city.
446
00:34:48,720 --> 00:34:50,199
Beautiful gardens were lost,
447
00:34:50,200 --> 00:34:54,359
buildings burnt down and that
wasn't just a loss of material,
448
00:34:54,360 --> 00:34:56,519
it was a crisis of confidence,
449
00:34:56,520 --> 00:35:01,519
and all these great cardinals and leaders,
with their money and their power,
450
00:35:01,520 --> 00:35:04,799
knew that they could lose the
whole thing at a stroke.
451
00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:08,159
Life was very tenuous,
452
00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:13,279
and the next garden I'm going to tells
that very vividly and graphically,
453
00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:17,520
all in a relatively small garden,
tucked away in woodland.
454
00:35:23,560 --> 00:35:26,680
The garden I'm about to
see is unlike any other.
455
00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:33,240
And certainly completely different from
the other great gardens of the age.
456
00:35:35,800 --> 00:35:41,400
To get to it, I'm heading back north again, to a small
hilltop town not far from Caprarola called Bomarzo.
457
00:35:46,840 --> 00:35:50,679
The town is dominated by a large palace
458
00:35:50,680 --> 00:35:54,479
belonging to the noble and
ancient Orsini family.
459
00:35:54,480 --> 00:35:57,879
In 1552, one of the family created
460
00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:01,279
a Renaissance garden like no other.
461
00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:03,079
But it's separate from the palace,
462
00:36:03,080 --> 00:36:06,320
down in the valley below,
hidden within a nearby wood.
463
00:36:13,840 --> 00:36:18,399
This is the Sacro Bosco, or
sacred wood, and everything about
464
00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:24,839
it is completely different from the
other great gardens of the period.
465
00:36:24,840 --> 00:36:28,120
Harmony and symmetry are
replaced by twisting pathways.
466
00:36:29,640 --> 00:36:35,399
It's full of fantasies and visions
that loom out of the trees,
467
00:36:35,400 --> 00:36:38,839
and for an age that believed
absolutely in goblins,
468
00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:44,560
ghosts and woodland sprites, they
are spiced with real horror.
469
00:36:52,680 --> 00:36:55,239
If you think of the more
conventional gardens,
470
00:36:55,240 --> 00:36:58,839
they're laid out, they're
imposed on the landscape.
471
00:36:58,840 --> 00:37:02,879
Streets are moved, areas are
flattened, water is brought in
472
00:37:02,880 --> 00:37:08,319
by aqueducts, an enormous effort
to bring mankind to dominate it.
473
00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:14,199
But you can't help having a feeling here that they
walked round, had a look at it, saw the trees,
474
00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:17,919
saw these enormous lumps of rock and thought,
"Oh, we could do something with that"
475
00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:21,839
and it is extraordinary that these
great lumps of stone like this
476
00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:25,440
were just there, and they
hacked into it on the spot.
477
00:37:34,520 --> 00:37:37,559
The Sacro Bosco was created
by Duke Vicino Orsini.
478
00:37:37,560 --> 00:37:41,319
The Orsini family had included three
popes and dozens of cardinals,
479
00:37:41,320 --> 00:37:46,839
but Vicino Orsini was a man of
action - a soldier and a poet,
480
00:37:46,840 --> 00:37:49,599
as well as being distinctly hard-up.
481
00:37:49,600 --> 00:37:53,079
He married into the wealthy Farnese
family, which did enable him
482
00:37:53,080 --> 00:37:56,239
to make the garden, but his
resources remains limited.
483
00:37:56,240 --> 00:38:01,279
However, although his garden lacked in
elaborate engineering or architecture,
484
00:38:01,280 --> 00:38:03,599
he loaded it with anarchic riddles
485
00:38:03,600 --> 00:38:07,400
and visual puns which no-one
has ever fully deciphered.
486
00:38:20,080 --> 00:38:23,439
At the garden's heart is
a giant mouth of hell.
487
00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:26,159
It's a reference to Dante's Inferno,
488
00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:31,999
but the inscription advises the visitor to
abandon all "thought", rather than hope.
489
00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:36,439
There is this grotesque mouth
with nostrils like cannons,
490
00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:40,439
and it's like a child going, "Grrrr!"
491
00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:42,440
And then when you go inside,
492
00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:46,880
it's rather charming. It's
like a little picnic house.
493
00:38:49,960 --> 00:38:54,839
And you can imagine the Duke
and his chums coming down here
494
00:38:54,840 --> 00:38:59,679
and having a bottle of wine
and some cheese in this cool,
495
00:38:59,680 --> 00:39:01,999
rather elegant room.
496
00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:05,799
There is a building in the garden -
497
00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:11,280
a solid two-storey house, but it
leans drunkenly into the hillside.
498
00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:14,679
Ooh.
499
00:39:14,680 --> 00:39:20,200
It has been suggested that it symbolises the
collapsing fortunes of the house of Orsini.
500
00:39:33,600 --> 00:39:37,279
The house has been built at a slope.
501
00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:39,439
It's leaning.
502
00:39:39,440 --> 00:39:42,879
It's falling, and certainly
the 16th-century visitor
503
00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:47,279
would've appreciated the pun
on house, household, family,
504
00:39:47,280 --> 00:39:51,679
the name, you know, at a tilt.
505
00:39:51,680 --> 00:39:57,239
And of course, one of the ironies
is that this falling, leaning house
506
00:39:57,240 --> 00:40:00,359
is still standing strong after 500 years.
507
00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:04,919
Try and stand up, and I get the wobblies.
508
00:40:04,920 --> 00:40:07,680
Really, really weird!
509
00:40:14,360 --> 00:40:18,279
What I absolutely love is the green.
510
00:40:18,280 --> 00:40:22,479
The way that you go from
earth to stone to tree,
511
00:40:22,480 --> 00:40:27,319
with this one green that goes up through it and
then, you know, a sculpture comes along too,
512
00:40:27,320 --> 00:40:29,799
but wood and natural stone
and ground and sculpture
513
00:40:29,800 --> 00:40:33,279
all become part of the same
thing, and that's just lovely.
514
00:40:33,280 --> 00:40:37,479
Presumably it wasn't like that
when it was made, of course.
515
00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:40,920
Again, it's where time changes
the garden for the better.
516
00:40:44,720 --> 00:40:47,879
It certainly would've originally
looked very different,
517
00:40:47,880 --> 00:40:52,559
because all these beautiful, mossy
and weather-worn sculptures
518
00:40:52,560 --> 00:40:56,280
would originally have been painted
in bright, gaudy colours.
519
00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:05,839
Look how lovely this is. It's
a good gardening lesson.
520
00:41:05,840 --> 00:41:10,559
If you want moss, you've got to have
poor drainage, ie stone or bark,
521
00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:13,600
shade and water and then it'll flourish.
522
00:41:23,720 --> 00:41:25,839
Orsini was a soldier of fortune.
523
00:41:25,840 --> 00:41:30,239
A mercenary, fighting for
the Pope amongst others,
524
00:41:30,240 --> 00:41:33,959
so it's no surprise that one of his
main themes is the abuse of power.
525
00:41:33,960 --> 00:41:38,159
Here, the colossal figure of
Hercules takes his righteous,
526
00:41:38,160 --> 00:41:44,119
if deservingly rapacious revenge on
Cacus, who has stolen his cattle.
527
00:41:44,120 --> 00:41:46,879
And one message comes
through loud and clear
528
00:41:46,880 --> 00:41:52,359
in this garden, which is that Orsini is
challenging the over-weening confidence and pride
529
00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:55,880
displayed in the grand gardens
of Rome's ruling class.
530
00:41:57,880 --> 00:42:00,199
I think this garden -
531
00:42:00,200 --> 00:42:05,279
it's almost a revolt against
the attempt to apply order
532
00:42:05,280 --> 00:42:09,160
that the Renaissance had done
to gardens and life in general.
533
00:42:11,280 --> 00:42:13,999
This idea that if you make everything symmetrical,
then somehow life will become controlled.
534
00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:17,439
And what Orsini's doing
here, I think, he's saying,
535
00:42:17,440 --> 00:42:19,719
"Well, life isn't like that."
536
00:42:19,720 --> 00:42:22,399
Life is uncontrollable and strange,
and there's war and there's violence
537
00:42:22,400 --> 00:42:27,679
and, you know, you can be married and you love your
wife, but you can have lots of lovers, which he did.
538
00:42:27,680 --> 00:42:33,559
You can lust after other people, you can...
be a man of peace and of art,
539
00:42:33,560 --> 00:42:36,879
but go to war and kill people.
540
00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:41,559
And it's almost a stab at early psychology,
541
00:42:41,560 --> 00:42:43,479
and so he's built this place,
542
00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:47,119
which has some beauty, but then suddenly...
543
00:42:47,120 --> 00:42:49,959
looming out of the mist is a monster,
544
00:42:49,960 --> 00:42:52,999
a monster of the imagination,
and I suspect that's a bit too
545
00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:55,799
fanciful, trying to interpret
the whole thing in that way,
546
00:42:55,800 --> 00:42:58,640
but certainly, that
element seems to be here.
547
00:43:01,480 --> 00:43:07,880
In the end, Bomarzo remains
an enigma, and rightly so.
548
00:43:08,840 --> 00:43:13,800
It's a beautiful and disturbing tangle that
would be diminished if it were unravelled.
549
00:43:22,160 --> 00:43:26,639
Bomarzo's eccentricity was a reaction against
the pretension and pomp of the cardinals,
550
00:43:26,640 --> 00:43:30,959
and they were becoming
political loose cannons,
551
00:43:30,960 --> 00:43:33,720
hell-bent on creating increasingly
ostentatious gardens.
552
00:43:39,920 --> 00:43:44,800
I'm now heading 12 miles south of
Rome, to the town of Frascati.
553
00:43:49,760 --> 00:43:53,799
Its cooler climate made it a popular spot for
the cardinals to escape Rome's burning heat
554
00:43:53,800 --> 00:43:57,239
and build their summer villas.
555
00:43:57,240 --> 00:43:59,720
And this, of course, meant making gardens.
556
00:44:02,280 --> 00:44:05,759
But there was a major problem -
557
00:44:05,760 --> 00:44:07,279
insufficient water.
558
00:44:07,280 --> 00:44:11,359
The fashion for ambitious water
features, like those of Villa d'Este,
559
00:44:11,360 --> 00:44:14,039
were literally running Frascati dry.
560
00:44:14,040 --> 00:44:18,120
The battle over water rights that
followed was highly un-Christian.
561
00:44:19,640 --> 00:44:23,119
We think of cardinals as being good men,
562
00:44:23,120 --> 00:44:26,679
holy men, but actually, power
corrupted them spectacularly
563
00:44:26,680 --> 00:44:29,479
throughout this period,
564
00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:32,719
and some of them were warlords, they
were murderers, they were robbers.
565
00:44:32,720 --> 00:44:36,559
Every venial sin they could
commit, they had a go at it.
566
00:44:36,560 --> 00:44:42,239
And in fact, they used to scupper each other's
gardens by destroying the water supply.
567
00:44:42,240 --> 00:44:45,640
If you couldn't have water, you
couldn't have a decent garden.
568
00:44:49,040 --> 00:44:52,679
In 1598, Pope Clement VIII gave his nephew,
569
00:44:52,680 --> 00:44:56,639
Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, this site,
570
00:44:56,640 --> 00:45:01,359
dominating the town, on which
to build himself a villa,
571
00:45:01,360 --> 00:45:05,159
and critically he also provided the money.
50,000 scudi,
572
00:45:05,160 --> 00:45:07,599
£5m at today's value,
573
00:45:07,600 --> 00:45:09,639
to fund a brand new aqueduct
574
00:45:09,640 --> 00:45:13,999
that gave the town a reliable water
supply, but only after the garden
575
00:45:14,000 --> 00:45:15,720
had taken its fill.
576
00:45:26,920 --> 00:45:29,039
I arrive on hedge-trimming day.
577
00:45:29,040 --> 00:45:33,039
The Italians are invariably expert
when it comes to pruning trees.
578
00:45:33,040 --> 00:45:34,839
This 200-yard-long tunnelled avenue,
579
00:45:34,840 --> 00:45:37,519
whose exterior has been clipped
580
00:45:37,520 --> 00:45:40,039
to a monstrous hedge,
581
00:45:40,040 --> 00:45:43,559
is, I think, topiary at its finest.
582
00:45:43,560 --> 00:45:48,399
From the outside, this looks
like a solid block of hedge.
583
00:45:48,400 --> 00:45:51,879
Now, from the inside, these
are great big trees,
584
00:45:51,880 --> 00:45:56,799
and I'm pretty sure they were planted as a hedge and
they've been allowed to grow out massively for,
585
00:45:56,800 --> 00:45:59,759
I don't know, 100 years
or something, I suspect,
586
00:45:59,760 --> 00:46:02,199
and then have been clipped back, so
what you have is a halfway house.
587
00:46:02,200 --> 00:46:06,639
You've got great oak trees and
inside all the bones showing,
588
00:46:06,640 --> 00:46:09,879
like the inside of a beached whale
589
00:46:09,880 --> 00:46:14,040
and then on the outside,
this box front of foliage...
590
00:46:15,560 --> 00:46:18,079
...and only time will bring this.
591
00:46:18,080 --> 00:46:22,480
Only time and neglect can make
something as beautiful as this.
592
00:46:32,040 --> 00:46:37,399
The heavy skies open, and the rain sends
me on up to the shelter of the villa.
593
00:46:37,400 --> 00:46:40,719
This was given to Cardinal
Aldobrandini as a reward
594
00:46:40,720 --> 00:46:43,479
for negotiating a peace treaty with France.
595
00:46:43,480 --> 00:46:45,639
It was an extremely generous gift,
596
00:46:45,640 --> 00:46:50,199
and also a canny one because popes
aren't allowed to own property.
597
00:46:50,200 --> 00:46:54,359
So it was a way that Clement was
able to keep it in the family.
598
00:46:54,360 --> 00:46:58,239
The peace treaty gave Rome control
of the key town of Ferrara,
599
00:46:58,240 --> 00:47:02,279
along with a sizeable chunk
of the d'Este family fortune.
600
00:47:02,280 --> 00:47:06,719
These spoils allowed Aldobrandini
to create a villa and a garden
601
00:47:06,720 --> 00:47:10,359
to outshine all those of
his Frascati neighbours.
602
00:47:10,360 --> 00:47:14,039
The villa isn't usually open to the public,
603
00:47:14,040 --> 00:47:18,559
so it's a rare privilege
to be allowed inside.
604
00:47:18,560 --> 00:47:21,919
Inside the villa is a painting
605
00:47:21,920 --> 00:47:25,040
of Cardinal Aldobrandini.
606
00:47:26,880 --> 00:47:30,799
And there he is - a
surprisingly young man really.
607
00:47:30,800 --> 00:47:36,959
Apparently, he was a man of great power and
intellect and organisational skills...
608
00:47:36,960 --> 00:47:40,120
and this was all made for him.
609
00:47:48,800 --> 00:47:53,479
By the time Cardinal Aldobrandini
came to build his villa,
610
00:47:53,480 --> 00:47:56,439
a new movement had
replaced the Renaissance.
611
00:47:56,440 --> 00:47:58,240
This was the Baroque.
612
00:48:02,160 --> 00:48:05,239
Baroque was a style of architecture
613
00:48:05,240 --> 00:48:09,479
and garden design that was
dramatic, elaborate, triumphant
614
00:48:09,480 --> 00:48:14,199
and very confident, and was
underpinned by the desire
615
00:48:14,200 --> 00:48:19,120
to re-assert the supremacy of the
Catholic Church over Protestant enemies.
616
00:48:24,840 --> 00:48:29,159
One of the interesting things when you look at
gardens is that you obviously do your homework.
617
00:48:29,160 --> 00:48:32,959
You see photographs, you look at books...
but nothing,
618
00:48:32,960 --> 00:48:35,520
nothing prepares you for the reality.
619
00:48:37,480 --> 00:48:41,159
And, of course, the honest response
620
00:48:41,160 --> 00:48:43,599
is to be flabbergasted.
621
00:48:43,600 --> 00:48:46,839
Can't really think of
anything sensible to say,
622
00:48:46,840 --> 00:48:49,640
because just the scale of the thing...
623
00:48:52,640 --> 00:48:55,919
Whilst at first glance, the water
theatre might seem to be decorated
624
00:48:55,920 --> 00:49:00,519
with a series of anonymous mythical
characters from classical Rome,
625
00:49:00,520 --> 00:49:05,079
it is in fact a celebration of papal,
power and the Aldobrandini name...
626
00:49:05,080 --> 00:49:11,679
with a symbolism all of their contemporaries
would have recognised immediately.
627
00:49:11,680 --> 00:49:15,720
So Atlas bearing the world on his
shoulders represents Pope Clement...
628
00:49:18,200 --> 00:49:21,479
and at his feet, triumphantly
rising out of the sea,
629
00:49:21,480 --> 00:49:24,839
is the heroic head of Hercules,
630
00:49:24,840 --> 00:49:28,120
symbolising Cardinal Aldobrandini.
631
00:49:30,240 --> 00:49:35,559
They loved this idea of masque,
which was one-off theatre.
632
00:49:35,560 --> 00:49:41,800
Enormously expensive, put on as a performance to
impress those in power. And this is what this is.
633
00:49:46,080 --> 00:49:50,199
It's gardening as grand
display for a select few,
634
00:49:50,200 --> 00:49:53,239
and it's very symbolic that
it's not open to the public.
635
00:49:53,240 --> 00:49:58,840
It's still just you and I looking at this and a handful
of other people, and the performance is for us.
636
00:50:10,280 --> 00:50:14,759
Above the water theatre, a cascade
flows and bounces down steps
637
00:50:14,760 --> 00:50:16,839
to the balustrade below,
638
00:50:16,840 --> 00:50:20,320
with a tall pair of columns flanking it.
639
00:50:29,960 --> 00:50:33,559
It was designed so that
it is wider at the top,
640
00:50:33,560 --> 00:50:36,999
and the foreshortening makes it
appear steeper and more dramatic,
641
00:50:37,000 --> 00:50:39,120
especially when viewed from the villa.
642
00:50:44,960 --> 00:50:49,319
Pietro Aldobrandini and his
guests would look across
643
00:50:49,320 --> 00:50:52,479
and applaud the water spiralling down
the columns into the balustrades
644
00:50:52,480 --> 00:50:54,399
either side of the cascade,
645
00:50:54,400 --> 00:50:58,959
and then down into the theatre
as a performance and spectacle
646
00:50:58,960 --> 00:51:02,080
as dramatic and entertaining as any opera.
647
00:51:06,440 --> 00:51:10,199
The cascade as it stands is impressive.
648
00:51:10,200 --> 00:51:13,519
A roar of water coming down, but
actually it's only half the action,
649
00:51:13,520 --> 00:51:17,719
because the two columns at
the top have got spirals,
650
00:51:17,720 --> 00:51:22,759
and originally water came out
the top, worked its way round,
651
00:51:22,760 --> 00:51:24,719
came splashing down,
652
00:51:24,720 --> 00:51:28,560
spilling into the pool below.
653
00:51:33,400 --> 00:51:35,519
And so you had the central cascade,
654
00:51:35,520 --> 00:51:39,199
you had the spirals at the top
whizzing around like firecrackers
655
00:51:39,200 --> 00:51:42,399
made out of water, and then the
balustrades coming over the edge.
656
00:51:42,400 --> 00:51:48,640
So the whole thing... was wildly over the top,
very kitsch and probably really good fun.
657
00:51:54,720 --> 00:51:58,599
Huh! Here we go.
658
00:51:58,600 --> 00:52:02,999
You see the channel...
659
00:52:03,000 --> 00:52:06,319
that comes round, it's really quite big.
660
00:52:06,320 --> 00:52:11,119
So quite a lot of water would come down here, picking
up speed as it went, throwing light onto the mosaic
661
00:52:11,120 --> 00:52:14,520
and coming down to go down
these balustrades and...
662
00:52:16,120 --> 00:52:21,399
the important thing is that you have
that fantastic aspect of the villa,
663
00:52:21,400 --> 00:52:25,599
that they have a brilliant view of what's
going on, particularly from the top,
664
00:52:25,600 --> 00:52:29,119
which was the viewing platform for
the cardinal and his friends,
665
00:52:29,120 --> 00:52:34,320
because it wasn't just the theatre down
below they wanted to see, but also this.
666
00:52:35,840 --> 00:52:39,760
Up here on this level is as
much again, if not more.
667
00:52:47,320 --> 00:52:51,039
The top of the garden has been
derelict since the Second World War,
668
00:52:51,040 --> 00:52:56,959
when it was badly damaged by American
bombers during the Allied invasion.
669
00:52:56,960 --> 00:52:58,800
That's enchanting.
670
00:53:02,480 --> 00:53:06,839
This is the only grand papal
garden not owned by the state.
671
00:53:06,840 --> 00:53:08,520
It remains in private hands,
672
00:53:10,560 --> 00:53:15,839
still owned and still lived in
by the Aldobrandini family.
673
00:53:15,840 --> 00:53:19,719
Looking after a garden and villa
like this is a mammoth undertaking,
674
00:53:19,720 --> 00:53:23,039
however, the current owner
Prince Camillo Aldobrandini
675
00:53:23,040 --> 00:53:27,719
is embarking on the formidable
job of restoration.
676
00:53:27,720 --> 00:53:29,920
Well, you see, there is some scaffolding
677
00:53:31,440 --> 00:53:38,199
and we are hoping to make a quite important work
of restoration, especially for the fountains,
678
00:53:38,200 --> 00:53:41,799
which are in a very bad state.
679
00:53:41,800 --> 00:53:46,359
- It was bombed during the war.
- Yeah.
680
00:53:46,360 --> 00:53:50,520
My father restored it, but having new
cement, it's now in a very bad state.
681
00:53:52,040 --> 00:53:55,119
Everything has to be repaired again.
682
00:53:55,120 --> 00:53:57,079
- And of course, the water...
- Yes.
683
00:53:57,080 --> 00:54:00,719
...Is a huge issue because
it's still quite a big thing
684
00:54:00,720 --> 00:54:04,679
- to have that water running, isn't it?
- Yes. We have an aqueduct,
685
00:54:04,680 --> 00:54:07,959
actually, and the water then
was used for this villa,
686
00:54:07,960 --> 00:54:11,520
and we sell the water to
the villages around here.
687
00:54:13,040 --> 00:54:16,159
Right. So does the garden always
have a good supply of water?
688
00:54:16,160 --> 00:54:20,559
No. There are some moments in autumn
when there is no water in the fountains.
689
00:54:20,560 --> 00:54:24,759
- Right.
- We're now starting to put a recycling outfit,
690
00:54:24,760 --> 00:54:28,839
so that the same water can
be used over and over again.
691
00:54:28,840 --> 00:54:32,759
And to what extent would you
ever consider restoration
692
00:54:32,760 --> 00:54:34,519
to a particular date?
693
00:54:34,520 --> 00:54:38,679
Are you putting the garden back
to the 16th century, or...?
694
00:54:38,680 --> 00:54:41,799
I wouldn't. It would be a
pity to cut down trees.
695
00:54:41,800 --> 00:54:45,239
In the Italian mentality,
countryside villas
696
00:54:45,240 --> 00:54:49,199
were usually a repetition of urban houses,
697
00:54:49,200 --> 00:54:51,519
and so they didn't want
to have too many trees,
698
00:54:51,520 --> 00:54:54,479
just wanted to have a house,
699
00:54:54,480 --> 00:54:57,879
and very low gardens and statues.
700
00:54:57,880 --> 00:55:02,159
And presumably, some things
have been lost from this?
701
00:55:02,160 --> 00:55:07,799
Yeah. There were statues all over this
balustrade, and they were taken by Napoleon.
702
00:55:07,800 --> 00:55:12,199
Napoleon took all the statues and
belongings of his brother-in-law,
703
00:55:12,200 --> 00:55:14,439
and his brother-in-law's brother,
704
00:55:14,440 --> 00:55:18,039
which was my great-grandfather,
and he said he would pay them
705
00:55:18,040 --> 00:55:20,639
after he would come back from Russia.
706
00:55:20,640 --> 00:55:25,799
Unfortunately, things didn't turn out...
as planned.
707
00:55:25,800 --> 00:55:29,120
Not quite. It's a very good story.
708
00:55:33,720 --> 00:55:37,999
At the garden's highest point is the
main water supply, still flowing
709
00:55:38,000 --> 00:55:43,240
from the same aqueduct Cardinal
Aldobrandini built 400 years ago.
710
00:55:46,560 --> 00:55:51,439
The last cascade is the most natural
and, I think, the most charming, too.
711
00:55:51,440 --> 00:55:54,559
It's got real elegance, and of
course, that was the idea -
712
00:55:54,560 --> 00:55:56,879
that as you got away from the palace,
713
00:55:56,880 --> 00:56:02,479
everything became more natural and blended
into the wild, but very, very controlled.
714
00:56:02,480 --> 00:56:05,519
This was wilderness absolutely
under the thumb of man.
715
00:56:05,520 --> 00:56:10,919
In the 21st century, nature's taken
over, places have been cleared,
716
00:56:10,920 --> 00:56:17,799
trees have grown, they've decayed, and because
it's a private garden, it feels intimate.
717
00:56:17,800 --> 00:56:21,319
It feels that you're seeing
something very personal,
718
00:56:21,320 --> 00:56:24,719
and I'm not sure I'd like this to
be fully restored and made public
719
00:56:24,720 --> 00:56:27,679
and gleaming, and a historical document.
720
00:56:27,680 --> 00:56:31,679
I think part of the magic
is that it almost feels
721
00:56:31,680 --> 00:56:34,599
like it could disappear at any time.
722
00:56:34,600 --> 00:56:37,080
So it's more precious.
723
00:56:46,160 --> 00:56:50,239
Villa Aldobrandini is still
astonishingly grand,
724
00:56:50,240 --> 00:56:53,519
but age has given it an air
of engaging scruffiness
725
00:56:53,520 --> 00:56:56,520
that I think makes it
all the more charming.
726
00:57:05,800 --> 00:57:09,119
On my tour around these
great gardens of Rome,
727
00:57:09,120 --> 00:57:12,639
I've seen gardens designed
to entertain and to shock,
728
00:57:12,640 --> 00:57:14,600
but above all, to impress.
729
00:57:16,480 --> 00:57:19,359
And how they succeeded,
730
00:57:19,360 --> 00:57:22,879
although not perhaps as they intended,
731
00:57:22,880 --> 00:57:27,599
as they continue to impress and influence
gardeners and tourists for the next 400 years.
732
00:57:27,600 --> 00:57:30,799
And it remains an astonishing thought
733
00:57:30,800 --> 00:57:34,600
that they were all made within
such a brief period of time.
734
00:57:36,640 --> 00:57:40,719
During this 50-year period at
the end of the 16th century,
735
00:57:40,720 --> 00:57:44,839
the cardinals vied with each other
for the papacy like dogs in a pack,
736
00:57:44,840 --> 00:57:50,119
and the gardens that they were making were not
for a love of plants or horticulture, as such.
737
00:57:50,120 --> 00:57:53,559
They were primarily to impress
each other, to show their power
738
00:57:53,560 --> 00:57:57,519
in order that they could become the
Pope themselves, and the irony is,
739
00:57:57,520 --> 00:58:01,559
of course, that none of them,
none of these great garden makers
740
00:58:01,560 --> 00:58:03,919
ever made it to the top table.
741
00:58:03,920 --> 00:58:07,679
But what they left behind were
not so much a piece of history
742
00:58:07,680 --> 00:58:09,439
showing how powerful they were,
743
00:58:09,440 --> 00:58:12,679
but a set of some of the
most beautiful gardens
744
00:58:12,680 --> 00:58:15,160
the world has ever seen.
745
00:58:17,480 --> 00:58:19,879
Next time, I'll be in Florence,
746
00:58:19,880 --> 00:58:24,679
where the creative revolution of the
Renaissance not only changed art
747
00:58:24,680 --> 00:58:29,920
and architecture, but also
transformed gardens of every kind.
748
00:58:38,320 --> 00:58:42,679
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd.
749
00:58:42,680 --> 00:58:47,760
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