Italian Gardens: Use typical Italian horticultural and garden accent selections. Place those elements in appropriate formal, estate, natural, rural or city gardens.

The Italian garden has a long and impressive lineage. As Rome extended its influence into Persia and Egypt, those cultures exported much of their culture back into Rome. One of the foremost of these influences was the classic Persian garden. The essential garden features were the strong axial views with very symmetrical planting elements placed on either side of that line. Then there was the four quadrant garden layout, essential in both small and estate landscapes, which was readily accepted and spread to the rest of Europe. Italian gardens were somewhat unique due to the terrain in much of the country which dictated that the horizontal garden layout take on more vertical aspects, while retaining the essential formality of the landscape. Italy has much of its own flavor that you can incorporate into your culturally specific landscape architecture planning. The Italians were and are very attracted to galleries, courtyards, porticos, colonnades, fountains, fish ponds, pergola’s, connecting gardens, columns, statuary, stone vases, allees of trees and of course, the slender Italian cypress, topiaries, fruit trees, olive trees, grape vines and much more. Some material that were preferred were marble for their construction and art works, cast stone for vases and building elements, and terra cotta for plant containers and art objects. It almost seems as though the Italians invented eating outdoors and the term dining alfresco is generically used throughout the world. Your Italian garden designs should feature sunlight, soil and edibles from trees, vines and shrubs. Herbs and vegetables in clay pots can never be a mistake, but attempting to list all appropriate elements for these gardens in this short description would be. There are many books and pictorial’s on this subject and the designer is urged to take advantage of them.

If the landscape design professional is attempting to create an important “ top of the mark” cultural garden where serious scrutiny by observers is expected, it is advisable to consult with an expert in that garden design specialization.

Photo Palette Offerings

(Obviously, only a small sampling of related garden elements can reasonably be displayed, but the viewer should be able to use these as a springboard to develop their own design palette.)

Italian Decorative Elements

Italian Garden Scenes

Italian Hardscape