A fairy-tale garden, defined by the “New York Times” as «the most beautiful and romantic in the world», where you can immerse yourself in enchantment.
The Garden of Ninfa, with its 8 hectares of land and 1,300 plants from all over the world, looks like a real paradise on earth.
It is located near Cisterna di Latina, in the area where the medieval town of Ninfa, whose history is mainly linked to the Caetani family, once stood. Here, between the 13th and 14th centuries, an already existing castle was enlarged and the baronial palace was built but, in 1382, during the Great Schism, the city was destroyed by anti-pope supporting troops, becoming a ghost town.
It was Cardinal Nicolò III Caetani (1526-1585), driven by his love for botany, who instructed the architect Francesco da Volterra to transform it into a marvelous garden, a sort of “hortus conclusus”. The garden, however, fell into disrepair again when he died. It was the Duke of Sermoneta Onorato Caetani (1842-1917) who brought the garden back to life, thanks to the intervention, first of all, of his wife Ada Bootle Wilbraham, then of Marguerite Chapin Caetani, who introduced new species of shrubs and flowers. In 1972 the Roffredo Caetani Foundation was established, which protects and safeguards the garden, the Caetani Castle of Sermoneta and the Casato Caetani.
From this year, you can also visit the ancient prisons of the Caetani Castle, where you can see as many as 150 pieces of graffiti and incisions done by prisoners.
Info: www.giardinodininfa.eu and www.frcaetani.it/en.