Sigurtà Park and Garden

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This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)

Parco Giardino Sigurtà is a 148-acre natural park in Valeggio sul Mincio, in the province of Verona, a few miles south of Lake Garda.

It originates from the “brolo cinto de muro” (1617) – the garden of the current Villa Sigurtà. The latter housed the headquarters of Napoleon III in 1859.
Carlo Sigurtà, the owner of the villa, spent forty years to turn the dry hilly area into fertile land, legally using the water from the nearby Mincio River.

In 1978, the park was opened to the public and in 2011 won the First Prize at the Great Italian Gardens competition for the best level of maintenance, good governance and painstaking care of the vegetation. In 2013, was acknowledged as the most beautiful park in Italy in the “private park” category. Today, the Sigurtà Garden Park is considered one of the most extraordinary in the world.

The daffodils bloom first in the flowerbeds, followed by tulips, irises, roses, asters, dahlias and many other flowers; water lilies and lotus flowers populate the numerous ponds and pools around the park.

Viale delle Rose (“avenue of roses”) is the most iconic feature which has made the Sigurtà Garden Park famous all over the world. It features more than 30.000 carefully selected “Queen Elizabeth” roses, hybrids of Polyantha and Floribunda, blossoming every spring.

The new garden maze, featuring 1500 specimens of yew (Taxus baccata), winds through several plants 6.5 ft high and stretches over a rectangular area of 2.989 square yards.
Inside the park, there is also a garden of officinal plants with about 40 different species with precious therapeutic properties.

In the summer, visitors can enjoy the flowering of aquatic plants. In the 18 basins, diurnal, nocturnal and tropical water lilies bloom with multicoloured corollas, from pink to yellow, and from intense red to cyclamen shades.

Among the many old trees, the Great Oak stands out, a particularly interesting specimen for the perfect harmony between the trunk (19.6 ft in circumference) and the crown (394 ft in circumference).

But, as Marta Moletta, a great lover of plants and gardens, told us “Few people know the most hidden and introspective side of Sigurtà Park. I’m talking about the path to the small votive chapel, the one I prefer, along which you can get lost and detach yourself from the surrounding world. The path where the steps are made up of tree roots is wonderful”.

Several pictures by Marta Moletta are included in this photo gallery.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)