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Villa Raimondi currently houses the Minoprio Foundation in a building from the late XVIII century, slightly modified during the XX century, and surrounded by a vast and evocative park.
A former building by Della Porta was eventually destroyed to build the new one at the end of the XVIII century. In the following century, several changes were made, especially on the façade of this noble abode.

The villa is surrounded by a large garden, now partially used as a botanical park, of a size of about 17 acres. It contains over 300 main tree species and about 1600 smaller shrubs and trees.
Among these, there are about 130 varieties of camellias, several species of azaleas and rhododendrons, over 100 types of perennial herbs, and some secular plants such as a magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora), linden (Tilia spp.), and sophoras (Styphnolobium japonicum, Sophora japonica).

Some nurseries have been recently built inside the greenhouses to cope with the ever-expanding collection of plants. Visitors can thus also find tropical plants, orchids and a Mediterranean garden. The latter is housed inside the most important greenhouse, featuring a double-pitched gabled structure, perfectly insulated. Inside, it follows the typical XIX century layout of winter gardens, with plants arranged along a curved path, recreating a miniature landscape park, extremely rich in exotic vegetation, palm trees and tropical species among rocks and volcanic stones.
The park is cared for by several students of professional schools.

THE MINOPRIO FOUNDATION
Since 1962, the Minoprio Foundation has been offering professional training in the agricultural and landscaping sectors. It currently organizes courses on several subjects, with different durations, offering a diploma, post-diploma training, post-graduate university training (1st level Master) and professional education for fruit-growing, horticulture and gardening.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)