The garden

The structure of the external area has three main areas: the garden, the vegetable garden and vineyard, and the traditional “prà giardin.”

The garden is on three levels connected by stone steps. The highest level is a gravel terrace facing the manor house. On the edge of the highest level are carved box hedges that demarcate that level’s boundary, and act as the defining feature of the second level.

This second level is in turn divided into two parts. The first, symmetrical and centered with respect to the house, is an Italian garden outlined by box hedges (Buxus sempervirens), and punctuated by taller and sculpted box hedges in the shape of armchairs and geometric figures.

The second part of this level, known as the “English garden,” is a yew grove (Taxus baccata). Its western border, which is regularly trimmed, forms a green wall that marks the border and defines the symmetrical disposition of the Italian garden. Although the structure of the English garden is created by the yews, there are other mature plants within it. These include a local walnut tree (Juglans regia), a very harmonious American walnut tree (Juglans nigra), a pawlonia (Pawlonia tomentosa), and a young Camphor Laurel plant (Cinnamomum camphora). In mid-April, a beautiful Peony Arborea (Suffruticosa) brightens the twilight of the grove with its bloom.

The third level consists of a small plantation of fruit and olive trees.