The gardens were created during the 16th century. They are composed of a wooded park, located at the bottom of a valley where the castle of Orsini was erected, and populated by sculptures and small buildings divided among of the natural vegetation. The park is filed with bizarre and fascinating sculptures for which only the accompanying inscriptions provide any explanation. Among the pieces are a war elephant, a monstrous fish-head, a giant tearing another giant in half, and a house built on a tilt to disorient the viewer. Perhaps the most frightening piece in the garden is an enormous head, mouth opened wide in a scream. History The park's name stems from the many larger-than-life sculptures, some sculpted in the bedrock, which populate this predominantly barren landscape. It is the work of Pier Francesco Orsini, called Vicino (1523–1585), a condottiero and patron of the arts, greatly devoted to his wife Giulia Farnese, not to confuse with her maternal grandmother Giulia Farnese, the mistress of Pope Alexander VI.
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When the wife of Orsini died, he created the gardens. Monster must be understood in the Latin meaning of monstrare, which means to show and demonstrate. This then means that from stop to stop, from stage to stage, each element is a component of an immense, very neoplatonic poem to his lost love. Orsini always insisted on the name sacred wood of Bomarzo. And he wrote: 'Chiunque non sia colpito da questo parco non ammirerebbe neppure le sette meraviglie del mondo' ( Whoever is not astonished by this park would not even admire the seven wonders of the world.' ) The design is attributed to Pirro Ligorio, and the sculptures to Simone Moschino. The wealthy Orsini entrusted the original work to the Neapolitan artist and architect Pirro Ligorio, who completed some of the work of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome after Michelangelo died.
The sculptures are attributed to Simone Moschino. During the nineteenth century and deep into the twentieth the garden became overgrown and neglected, but in the 1970s a program of restoration was implemented by the Bettini family, and today the garden, which remains private property, is a major tourist attraction. Sacro Bosco di Bomarzo - La sirena Style The park of Bomarzo was intended not to please, but to astonish, and like many Mannerist works of art, its symbolism is arcane: examples are a large sculpture of one of Hannibal's war elephants, which mangles a Roman legionary, or the statue of Ceres lounging on the bare ground, with a vase of verdure perched on her head.
The many monstrous statues appear to be unconnected to any rational plan and appear to have been strewn almost randomly about the area, sol per sfogare il Core ('just to set the heart free') as one inscription in the obelisks says. Allusive verses in Italian by Annibal Caro (the first one is of him, in 1564), Bitussi and Cristoforo Madruzzo, some of them now eroded, were inscribed besides sculptures. The reason for the layout and design of the garden is largely unknown: perhaps they were meant as a foil to the perfect symmetry and layout of the great Renaissance gardens nearby at Villa Farnese and Villa Lante. Next to a formal exedra is a tilting watchtowerlike casina, the so-called Casa Pendente ('Leaning House').
Sculptures Pegasus, the winged horse Two sirens, probably Proserpina, wife of Pluto Orcus with its mouth wide open and on whose upper lip it is inscribed 'All Thoughts Fly' A whale Two bears A dragon attacked by lions Proteus with weapons of Orsini Hannibal's elephant catching a Roman legionary Cerberus A turtle with a winged woman on its back A small theater of Nature A giant who brutally shreds a character A fountain called Pegasus A triton in a niche Two Ceres, sitting and standing A sleeping nymph Aphrodite The giant fruit, cones and basins Monuments. Casa pendente, the Leaning House The Leaning House: dedicated to cardinal Cristoforo Madruzzo, who was a friend of Vicino Orsini and his wife. As cardinal, Bishop of Trent, and temporal ruler of that principality, Cristoforo Madruzzo naturally played a prominent part in the Council of Trent. The Temple of Eternity: memorial to Giulia Farnese, located at the top of the garden, it is an octagonal building with a mixture of classical, Renaissance and Etruscan genres. It currently houses the tombs of Giovanni Bettini and Tina Severi, the owners who restored the garden in the twentieth century.