Just over 15 km from Parco dei Mostri, near the city of Viterbo in central Italy, lie the late Renaissance gardens of Villa Lante. Like the Park of Monsters, the gardens’ general design and primary sculptural elements date to the later half of the 16th century. However, in contrast to its neighbor’s mannerist figures and seemingly haphazard layout, Villa Lante embraces the Renaissance ideas of geometric harmony and intellectual unity. Built to complement the grounds’ natural slope, the entirety of the tiered, expansive gardens share an integrated symbolic design—encompassing mythological, biblical, and heraldic sources—that culminates in a visual celebration of the triumph of human intelligence over wild nature. Although the result needs to be moved through to be fully appreciated, the gardens’ individual elements also invite closer inspection, compelling contemporary visitors like ourselves to attempt to capture them through the static, segmented, anachronistic, and ultimately inadequate medium of photography.
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