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“Giardino della Valle”, also called Il “Giardino di Nonna Pupa” (“Grandma Pupa’s garden”), can be seen along the walls of Villa d’Este in Cernobbio, along the Garrovo Stream. It was built in the 1980s, on an illegal landfill, by enthusiastic Ida Lonati Frati, an adorable lady who asked the Municipality to reclaim the entire area.

At the beginning the latter was impassable, rocky, covered with waste and full of discarded items and rubbish. Mrs Frati cleaned and transformed it at her own expense while planting seeds and plants also sponsored by some of her acquaintances. She thus managed to create a wonderful and intimate garden, which is now a public park.

Unfortunately, the beloved Nonna Pupa (Mrs Frati’s nickname) passed away in November 2019, but her small piece of paradise on Earth is now painstakingly managed by “Il Giardino della Valle” Association. The latter resorts to membership fees, donations (they’re always more than welcome) and the work of several volunteers (not necessarily required to be professional gardeners), to successfully walk in the footstep of Mrs Frati. People working together and sharing the fruits of their hard work is probably the very essence of this garden. Indeed, the association also asks for the help of artists, enthusiasts and botany experts, photographers, writers, influencers, creatives, meditation teachers and more, to make this facility more and more evocative and unique.

The garden can be accessed by two entrances: one at the beginning of via Adda, and the other from via Plinio.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)