Day 7

This morning we met Emilio in the square to hop on our latest bus for the day.  Our first stop was at the Villa Farnese in the Village of Caprarola.  We toured the early renassaince-style home which was surrounded by a fortress.  Both the home and it’s surrounding walls were in the shape of a pentagon to deflect bullets.  One of the first things we saw was a beautiful and complicated sundial.  The house was adorned with numerous frescoes in every room.  The most impressive part of each being the ceiling.  We were constantly looking up so that by the end we had cricks in our necks.  Our favorite part of the house by far was the last room we toured.  It was filled with maps on each wall.  Considering they were painted around 1560, it was suprising how accurate the maps were.

Following our tour in Caprarola, we headed to Bagnaia where our next garden was located.  Before touring it we dined in a delicious restaurant called “Il Borgo.”  The best part of the meal was the chocolate mousse, which nearly everyone tried and enjoyed. 

Following lunch we walked up the hill to visit the beautiful Villa Lante, one of the gardens we’d been most excited to see.  It did not dissapoint.  Villa Lante is a late renaissance garden that uniquely blends the formal parterres with the more rustic Italian style.  In a word, stunning.  The centerpiece of the garden was the intricate rill (water feature) flowing down the hill.  The rest of the garden radiated from this axis.  It was a much smaller garden than many we have toured but no less spectacular.  We could have spent all day there.

Finally, we headed to Parco dei Mostri “The Garden of Monsters”.  This was a famous haunt of Salvador Dali and was as unusual as the name would imply.  It is filled with numerous surreal statues carved from existing boulders on the property.  The garden is still privately owned, though open to the public.  The mermaids, giants, and sea monsters gave the grounds a whimsical feel which made for a fun jaunt through the garden.