One of my favorite trips while spending a month in Venice, was to the town of Verona. Verona is about a 2 hour train ride from Venice, depending on which train you take, and is a beautiful walled city that maintains a combination of ancient and modern culture. The Adige river runs through the city and numerous bridges allow you to easily cross to the other side. Roman ruins are still present amidst the more modern buildings and roads, with cars and mopeds zipping along.
I had been in search of formal Italian Gardens during this visit, and remembered reading about the Giardino Giusti in a Garden Book that I had back at home. The Boboli Gardens in Florence is one of my favorite places to visit, and I wanted to see if I could find something that was similar, but new. The Giardino Giusti was built in the late 1500's and is an ideal example of the relationship between humans and the natural world.
It was a beautiful day as I made my way through the city, across the bridge and along the narrow sidewalks. When I finally arrived at the garden, the entrance appeared to be just an ordinary doorway of of an otherwise moderately busy side street. I entered the main courtyard, and was struck immediately by the smell of the cypress trees and the sounds of the birds. I was now in a completely different world. After having spent weeks in an ancient city of water and stone, I noticed a moisture in the air and a smell of the earth that seemed as if it was unfamiliar and amplified.
An overwhelming sense of quiet was present in the garden, like time had been slowed or stopped, and buzzing city street that I had just come from, had vanished. I just stood for a moment absorbing the smells, sounds, the light and the shapes. Everything was neatly manicured and there were winding boxwood labyrinths around every turn. Statues stood frozen in time and potted citrus trees and bright blue plumbego added accents to the green mazes.
I began walking along the paths, through the dark foliage, winding my way up and up...
When I encountered this guy, ominously looking out over the garden from high above. Supposedly this balcony monster used breathe actual fire, as the mouth was said to have housed a fire pit.
Every new step led to a more magnificent view, and before I knew it, I had an aerial view of the entire garden and city of Verona. There is something so magical about wandering through a garden and suddenly, without even realizing it, you find yourself hovering above the earth.
Tearing myself away, I began my descent back down to the earth...
When I got back down I began noticing all of the colors of blooming plants an flowers, coleus, cleome, white anemonies and purple salvia.
Two moss covered fountains frame the entrance to the garden, one of them a lovely home to 3 turtles and some fish. The moss had completely covered what used to be ornamentation on each fountain, causing them to appear as if they were in a state of coming to life.
On my way out, I read an inscription on this old cypress tree that had been written by Goethe in the year 1786 in Verona. I looked up and saw what appeared to be a fig tree growing out of the bark of the cypress, a seemingly symbolic and beautiful sight.
