DR Laura de Baden gave a talk on Italian gardens to Sarum Decorative and Fine Arts Society on Tuesday, September 9. Starting with Emperor Hadrian’s Roman garden, she showed examples chronologically through to the present day and explained the philosophies which influenced their design. She explained how some Italian gardens were built vertically to cope with mountainous terrain. Terracing, steps, landings, retaining walls and grottos all stemmed from this need.
The main axis of an Italian garden starts at the top, unrolls to the bottom and connects heaven and earth. Dr de Baden’s wide-ranging talk touched on planting, design, water features, the need for shade, her favourite flowers and ended to the music of Liszt accompanied by slides of the Villa d’Este’s many water features.
The next meeting will be held at the Salvation Army Hall, Salt Lane, Salisbury on Tuesday, October 14. Coffee is available before the talk entitled All the Beasts of the Earth and the Flowers of the Field: Depictions of Flora and Fauna in Pottery and Porcelain which starts promptly at 11am.
Visitors are welcome, entrance costs £7.
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