I feel like I was party to two friends for encouraging them to buy as many as 19 hectares of land to build their villa and some annexes within a carob and olive farmed grove near Noto. But – just like them – I was literally bewitched by the beauty of the place, where I admire every single stone and plant, beside the intrinsic beauty of the region. When do you ever happen to create a garden in a place where nature is so powerful? In such a territory, when you say garden, you mean the outdoors: the discreet shift from the home’s decorative plants to spontaneous vegetation. Here, besides the usual prickly pears, agaves, and large chunks of mastic, ampelodesmos and rock rose, it is enriched by unique specimens such as white-fruited Myrtus Leucocarpa, different species of wild orchids and expanses of mandragora that produce violet bunches in the spring and fragrant berries in the autumn, enchanting anyone who goes near them – as befits such a mysterious plant. Designing a garden in the natural setting of southern Sicily does not mean designing “something new” or studying solutions to make nature even more beautiful; it means tiptoeing in, abiding by the circumstances that make it possible to enjoy the garden in keeping with Sicily’s rules: pleasure and culture, shade and coolness, fragrances and flavours. The beautiful plants in this project come from the Vivai Faro nursery.
Homeground-radicepura – Giarre, Sicily
How can one tell a story that is Sicilian, Italian, Mediterranean, marine, and volcanic, just where the countryside is remarkably fertile but natural elements are so strong that it always
