Where better to celebrate the coming spring than in the most beautiful parks and gardens of Italy? The National Network of Parks and Gardens has published a calendar of special openings and events, starting on the 17 March 2012 at the Villa Carlotta on Lake Como, where visitors can admire the 150 varieties of rhododendrons and azaleas.
The Festival of the Borromee Islands at Lake Maggiore follows (24-28 March), with an explosion of tulips, lilac, azaleas, rhododendrons and perfumed wisteria.
The Narcissus Festival at Villa La Pescigola at Fivizzano, Massa Carrara, offers the uplifting spectacle of 400 varieties of narcissus blowing in the breeze around the swan lake in the villa gardens between the 25 March to 1 May.
Between the 31 March and 1 May, Messer Tulipano at the Castle of Pralormo in Piemonte displays his astonishing collection of 75,000 tulips and narcissus in his English-style garden.
The Centro Botanico Moutan near Vitorchiano (Viterbo) is famous for its vast collection of 220,000 peonies belonging to over 600 species. Throughout April and May these magnificent flowers are in full bloom.
The 9 April to 1 May puts on its show of Flowers and Colours of Springtime at Parco Minoprio, Verternate con Minoprio, Como.
Special garden fairs include Spring at Landriana at the Landriana Garden at Tor San Lorenzo, Ardea, near Rome, on the 20-22 April, and Ortinparco, Festival of Kitchen Gardens and Orchards at Levico Terme, Trento, on the 21 April.
In Sicily, at the Tenuta Cardinale dell'Azienda Agricola La Trinità, Catania, the first fair of Mediterranean plants for gardens is scheduled for the 7-9 April. The Fair is entitled Where the Jacaranda Flowers, but as it also coincides with the flowering of the orange trees, so it will offer a double treat.
For information: www.ilparcopiubello.it
