The romantic garden among medieval ruins
At the foot of the Lepini mountains, in the municipality of Cisterna di Latina, about an hour south of Rome, lies one of the most beautiful and romantic gardens in the world: the Giardino di Ninfa, which the New York Times once called the most beautiful garden in the world. In the Middle Ages, Ninfa was a prosperous town on the Via Pedemontana, with walls, a castle, churches, mills and houses, which belonged from 1298 to the powerful Caetani family, but in the fourteenth century, after wars and the spread of malaria in the surrounding marshes, it was abandoned and fell into ruin. For centuries the ruins remained covered with vegetation, until, from the 1920s, three generations of the Caetani family, Gelasio, then Roffredo and his English wife Marguerite, and finally their daughter Lelia, created among them an English-style garden.
Today, the garden, about 8 hectares, is a dreamlike place where the ruins of medieval churches, towers and bridges are covered with climbing roses, wisteria and ivy, among more than a thousand species of plants from all over the world, magnolias, cherries, maples, bamboo, and in the middle flows the crystal-clear Ninfa river, with its small bridges, fed by springs at the foot of the mountains. Thanks to its particular microclimate, the garden is in bloom for much of the year. It is managed by the Fondazione Roffredo Caetani, which also protects the nearby natural oasis. To preserve its fragility, the garden is open only on certain days, mainly from spring to autumn, and only with guided tours and reservations.
Tip: book well in advance, especially in spring; visit in May and June, when the roses are in full bloom.
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