Giusti Garden – Verona
Open all year long, one of the most beautiful Italian style gardens in Italy
The Giusti Garden is located in Verona, in that part of the city historically called Veronetta, a district of early medieval origin that extends north-east of the center, on the east side of the Adige river.
The garden, created at the end of the 14th century, is today considered one of the most beautiful examples of Italian style garden.
The oldest part of the Giusti garden is strictly geometric, divided into 9 squares and divided into symmetrical rooms, dominated by box flower beds and mythological statues of Diana, Venus, Atlas, Apollo, Adonis.
It is closed by a row of cypresses, among which until recently there was Goethe’s cypress, which was felled by a strong storm in 2020.
This structure is still the one set up in 1570 by Agostino Giusti, Knight of the Venetian Republic and Gentleman of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, a cultured man, passionate about music and painting.
Giusti Garden was born as an industrial land. At the end of the thirteenth century, Giusti family moved to Verona from Tuscany to develop the then very flourishing wool dyeing industry. In 1406 Provolo Giusti bought an area along the ancient city walls, to boil the wool in cauldrons and dry it. Only during the sixteenth century, the productive settlement was converted into a representative palace and completed by a formal garden with box trees, cypresses, fountains and caves according to the fashion of the time: seven centuries of history!
At the time of the Grand Tour, Giusti Garden became a must-visit for all the great travelers passing through Verona: poets, artists, crowned heads – including Cosimo III de ‘Medici, Mozart, Goethe, Emperor Joseph II, King Charles Felice of Sardinia and Tsar Alexander of Russia.
Today the Garden, renovated after the war that had seriously damaged it, is kept in the old style, with the simplicity of the past when architecture, mythology and the classical world references were privileged.
In addition to all the fashionable elements in the gardens of the sixteenth century: vases with citrus fruits, fountains, the cedar tree, the pottery, and then caves, masks, Roman finds and pavilions to stop and admire the view.
The wooded section of the garden is designed to amaze the visitors and make them walk in the shady uphill paths. The cliff, the cave, the play of light and shadow and the perspectives are created to generate admiration, awe and wonder.
A secret staircase in a turret carved into the rock leads to the upper part of the garden and from the belvedere, obtained above the head of the mask, visitors can enjoy one of the most famous views of Verona.
The side paths wind through the flower beds of the Italian garden, and at every step, visitors can find some botanical finesse: the pale ancient roses, the hedges of the ancient Rusco plant, the red fruits of the Taxus baccata, the large vases of the gold ivy of Bogliasco.
Giusti Garden is today one of the most famous and refined attractions in Verona, visited every year by both cultured lovers of classic gardens and families with children.
A visitor commented on the visit as follows: “you feel immersed in culture and history, but in a natural, not staid way … it is so worthwhile to experience!”
USEFUL INFORMATION
The Giusti Garden is open every day.
Entrance with a fee
Check opening hours and tickets>>>
Photo: facebook page of the garden
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And after visiting the garden?
Discover what else you can do or visit in Veneto>>>
And enjoy the traditional food>>> and the excellent wines of the region>>>
