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Villa Lante Review
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Villa Lante 
- Address: Via G. Baroni 71, Bagnaia | Map It
- Phone: 0761/288008
- Category: Gardens/Arboretums
- Location: Bagnaia
Fodor's Review:
The village of Bagnaia, 5 km (3 mi) east of Viterbo, is the site of 16th-century cardinal Alessandro Montalto's summer retreat. Small twin residences are but an excuse for the hillside gardens -- the Villa Lante -- that surround them, designed by Vignola for a member of the papal court. The park is a terraced extravaganza, which relies on a panoply of stonework pools and fountains and cut hedges -- a highly regimented view of nature that would find its ultimate influence in the parterres and "green geometries" of Versailles. On the lowest terrace a delightful Italian garden has a centerpiece Fountain of the Moors fed by water channeled down the hillside. On another higher terrace a stream of water runs down a catena d'acqua, or water chain, designed by Vignola to resemble the leg of a crayfish (gambara -- a reference to cardinal Giovanni Gambara who was the first to expand the garden complex). This watercourse then flows along a long stone table where the cardinal liked to entertain his friends alfresco, chilling wine in the running water. That's only one of the most evident and innocent of the whimsical water games that were devised for the cardinal. The symmetry of the formal gardens contrasts with the wild, untamed park adjacent to it, reflecting the paradoxes of nature and artifice that are the theme of this famous pleasure garden. In the 17th century the garden passed into the hands of the princely Rovere family and is now maintained by the state.
- Cost: Park free, gardens and residences EUR 2
- Open: Tues.-Sun. 8:30-7:30
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