The exhibition “The wonders of the garden” at Villa Carlotta, Como Lake, Italy, open until 10 December 2023, offers an unprecedented interpretation of the park of Villa Carlotta, a place of exceptional beauty that since the seventeenth century has been characterized by the preciousness and rarity of its botanical specimens.

The exhibition itinerary develops through four sections that illustrate the appearance of the garden in different historical eras. From the lemons that already covered the walls of the terraces in the seventeenth century at the time of the Marquises Clerici, to the fruits cultivated starting from the Napoleonic age in the agricultural sector with Giovanni Battista Sommariva, up to the splendid collections of camellias and azaleas commissioned by Duke George II in the second half nineteenth century and the new interventions carried out by the organization starting from 1927. A story that continues today with the project “A step in the park, a step towards the future. Villa Carlotta a resource for the territory”, launched as part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) and financed by the European Union with the NextGenerationEU plan.

The exhibition, adopting a multidisciplinary perspective, combines heterogeneous materials (botanical tables, paintings, engravings, sculptures) from the seventeenth century to the contemporary. The history of the garden is rebuilt through some unpublished works from the collections of Villa Carlotta and others coming from Lombard museums, from the Royal Palace of Caserta, and from private collections. A central role is played by the loans of some institutions that participate, together with Villa Carlotta, in the 19th century Lombardy Network, such as the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo and the Brescia Musei Foundation, demonstrating the great synergy underway between these institutions.

“With this important exhibition, which closes a season full of cultural events, Villa Carlotta wants to enhance its botanical heritage, reinterpreting its events and evolution over the last three centuries, within the framework of a broader project for the recovery and promotion of the park”, underlines Maria Angela Previtera, director of Villa Carlotta.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog and a rich calendar of special events and guided tours that can be booked from the Events section of the website: https://www.villacarlotta.it/