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La Mortella Gardens
The tropical eden at Forio d'Ischia.
The La Mortella gardens were created in a volcanic gorge at Forio d'Ischia by the late Lord Walton and Lady Walton. These gardens are the expression of the English composer and his Argentinian wife's enduring love affair with Ischia, music and gardening. When the couple decided to move to the island in 1949, Susana enlisted the services of the eminent landscape architect Russel Page to assist her in transforming the then wild and rocky terrain into a tropical paradise, using more than 3.000 plants originating from different parts of the world.
The park is divided in two distinct zones. The Valley Garden is humid, lush and mysterious, whilst the light filled Hill Garden, which was designed and developed by Lady Walton from 1983, the year of her husband's death, is covered by Mediterranean vegetation.
Water is the all-pervasive element of the gardens of La Mortella. In his L shaped Valley Garden, Page included four fountains and a little rivulet running the length of its main axis, creating a visual link between the jets of water. The spectacular main fountain is connected to the smaller fourth fountain by a series of stone steps, lined with a magnificent display of tree ferns. Water is again an important feature in the Victoria House, where a Victoria Amazonica, a water lily the enormous round leaves of which can reach up to two and a half meters in diameter, can be found.
Climbing towards the Hill Garden, visitors come to the oriental style Thai Pavillion, surrounded by bamboo and lotus flowers, the Crocodile Pool, complete with bronze statue of the reptile, the recently constructed Greek Theatre, and William's Rock, where the composer's ashes are interred.
Susana Walton has dedicated the garden to the memory of her husband and his passion for music, and each year three different concert seasons are held here: chamber music in spring and autumn and symphonic concerts and youth orchestra performances in the summer.
Opening times:
From April to mid November: Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday
From 09.00hrs to 19.00hrs
Giardini La Mortella
via Francesco Calise, 39
Forio, Ischia (Na
www.lamortella.org
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