THE MONSTERS OF BOMARZO.

The Sacro Bosco (“Sacred Grove”), also called Park of the Monsters (Parco dei Mostri in Italian), also named Garden of Bomarzo, is a Mannerist ( Late Renaissance ) monumental complex located in Bomarzo, in the province of Viterbo, in northern Lazio, Italy. Therefore, Welcome to The Monsters of Bomarzo!!

Ahoy readers, my fellow wanderlusts sounds better, lol. Anyhooo, I’m back here after a long looong hiatus and I feel like I never left.

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In other words, I’ve been busy out and about this summer. Thanks to Corona being tamed, consequently life is back to normal, and I can finally travel, albeit with cautions, everywhere!

Being a one-woman show, vlogging, blogging and above all, being in the moment is no easy task, also considering that I have a family to tend to …. so yeah, my apologies, now let’s get to the important things, shall we…

THE MONSTERS OF BOMARZO MAP:

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Do you love adventures with a twist, treasure hunts?? Well, you’re in the right place. PARK OF MONSTERS, similarly, IL PARCO DEI MOSTRI DI BOMARZO, is that place that you should visit if and when you are in Lazio region to be precise, Viterbo province.

HISTORY OF THE MONSTERS OF BOMARZO:

The park’s name stems from the many larger-than-life sculptures, some sculpted in the bedrock, which populate this predominantly barren landscape. It was commissioned by Pier Francesco Orsini, called Vicino, a 16th-century condottiere, and patron of the arts, greatly devoted to his wife Giulia Farnese (not to be confused with her maternal great-aunt Giulia Farnese, the mistress of Pope Alexander VI … AHEM…). Therefore, when Orsini’s wife died, he created the gardens to cope with his grief. Hence, the design is attributed to Pirro Ligorio and the sculptures to Simone Moschino.

During the 19th century, and deep into the 20th, the garden became overgrown and neglected. But after the Spanish painter Salvador Dalí made a short movie about the park, and completed a painting actually based on the park in the 1950s, the Bettini family implemented a restoration program which lasted throughout the 1970s.

Therefore, today the garden, which remains private property, is a major tourist attraction.

ITALIAN VERSION:

Bomarzo, borgo del Lazio alle falde del Monte Cimino, possiede un’opera unica al mondo, il Sacro Bosco o Parco dei Mostri, progettato dal principe Vicino Orsini e realizzato dall’ architetto napoletano Pirro Ligorio nel 1552. Il Parco, pur inserendosi a pieno titolo nell’erudita cultura architettonico-naturalista del secondo Cinquecento, costituisce un unicum.

I raffinati giardini all’italiana sono realizzati con criteri di razionalità geometrica e prospettica, con ornamenti quali ampie terrazze, fontane con giochi d’acqua e sculture.

Al contrario, il colto principe di Bomarzo si dedicò alia realizzazione di un eccentrico “boschetto”, facendo scolpire nei massi di peperino affioranti dal terreno enigmatiche figure di mostri, draghi, soggetti mitologici e animal esotici, alternandoli con una casetta pendente, un tempietto funerario, fontane, sedili e obelischi, incisi con motti e iscrizioni.

Il Sacro Bosco, non rispettando le consuetudini cinquecentesche, si presenta come una soluzione irregolare. I diversi elementi sono tra loro svincolati da qualsiasi rapporto prospettico e non sono accomunati da coerenza di proporzioni.

Il tutto è inventato con criteri iconologici che sfuggono anche ai più appassionati studiosi, autentico labirinto di simboli che avvolge chi si addentra in esso.

In conclusion…

Questi i motivi che hanno ispirato molti artisti e letterati del tempo come Annibal Caro e Giuseppe Betussi. Alla morte di Vicino Orsini nessuno si curò più di questo luogo che, dopo secoli di abbandono. È stato riscoperto da intellettuali quali Claude Lorrain, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Salvador Dali, Mario Praz e Maurizio Calvesi.

ENGLISH VERSION:

Bomarzo, a village in Lazio at the foot of Monte Cimino, has a unique work in the world, the Sacro Bosco or Park of the Monsters. Designed by Prince Vicino Orsini and built by the Neapolitan architect Pirro Ligorio in 1552.

The Park, while fully integrating in the erudite architectural-naturalist culture of the second half of the sixteenth century.

The refined Italian gardens have bee n created with geometric and perspective rationality criteria, with ornaments such as large terraces, fountains with water features, and sculptures.

On the contrary,

The cultured prince of Bomarzo dedicated himself to the creation of an eccentric “grove ”. Therefore, he sculptered enigmatic figures of monsters, dragons, mythological subjects and exotic animals in the peperino boulders emerging from the ground. He alternated them with a small leaning house, a small temple, funerary, fountains, seats and obelisks. Some of these have bee n engraved with mottos and inscriptions.

The Sacro Bosco, not respecting the sixteenth-century customs, presents itself as an irregular solution. Hence, the different elements are separated from each other by any perspective relationship and are not united by the coherence of proportions.

Everything is invented with iconological criteria that escape even the most passionate scholars. An authentic labyrinth of symbols that envelops those who enter it.These are the reasons that inspired many artists and writers of the time such as Annibal Caro and Giuseppe Betussi.

Aaaaah, just realized just how much I missed blogging, letting it all out there. I should be a writer I guess…. or am I a writer “per se”?

It’s been lovely being back here please follow my Instagram account and my YouTube channel because that’s my main hideout, 24/7! For more other travel blogs, check out TREVI FOUNTAIN vlog, NOTTE BIANCA in Italy, just to name a few.

Stay Safe and DON’T FORGET TO HAVE A BLAST OF A TIME!

XOXO.