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Rocca di Soragna is located  about 27 km from Parma. It was built in 1385 as fortress for the Lupi family and during the fifties of the 16^th century it was transformed into a luxurious residence.
Till then, the castle was surrounded by a moat on all its perimeter and so it did not have a garden, but a small green area was fenced in 1542 inside the Rocca.In the 18^th century, the family Meli Lupi, who were interested in art, had realised a wide Italian style garden in the northern area, which was enriched with the recesses of the boundary walls and the statues which are still present. The garden was then widened in 1781.
In 1833 the architect Luigi Voghera from Cremona, who was employed by the  Prince Casimiro di Soragna, designed a new settlement for the garden getting inspiration from the English style.

The plants and the statues

The garden della Rocca presents nowadays traces of English style gardens with windy paths, which go through small hills and great tree groups planted in order to create new perspectives, which create the illusion of a never ending garden. Among the most important trees, there is the Juglans nigra, which has reached now remarkable dimensions.
Numerous marble statues decorate the garden and they represent Hercules, Minerva and other mythological characters. There are also marmoreal finds  in Baroque style spread among the trees. Other statues are placed in front of a neoclassical greenhouse. Apart from “pastorello d’Arcadia”, which is located in the middle of a rose flowerbed, all the other statues were sculpted in Venice for the Marquis Giuseppe Meli Lupi. Not so faraway from the greenhouse, there is an artificial lake surrounded by trees and at its centre there is the “isola dell’Amore” and two hillocks with artificial caves equipped with stalactites and stalagmites. The Café-haus, which is a small neoclassical construction, is also worth a visit.
The garden is connected to the Sala del Bocchirale through a double flight of stairs, on whose sides there are statues representing the four seasons and the rivers Nile and Ganges.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)