The Gardens of Vasanzibio

It was another beautiful day, perfect for the opening day of a stately home garden, this garden did not disappoint. The complex of Valsanzibio dates back to the second half of the Seventeenth Century. The complex was commissioned by the Venetian noble Giovani Francesco  and his sons Antonio and Gregorio. Gregorio, a deeply religious man, became a Cardinal, the Bishop of Padua and eventually a saint. He inspired the symbolic meaning of many of the areas in the grounds, his idea was to bring the visitor from ignorance to revelation, a purpose which he pledged to God for saving his family from the plague.

I have to admit you do leave with a little less ignorance and the joy of revelation. I hope these photos and dialogue leave you with a sense of revelation and a desire to come and visit.

This was the main entrance to the estate. "Diana's Doorway" was built in 1662 and  entered to solely by boat from the Valle : Saint Eusebio, a marshland which extended several miles to the Battaglia Channel and Brenta river which eventually led to Venice. The marshland was the inspiration for the name 'Val San Zibio", Today only a small pond (the Paludo) remains of the marshland entry which mirrors the doorway with its half moon and statues devoted to nature.

Our first destination was the 17th Century Labyrinth - you pay a small extra fee to enter the 1.5 km long maze . The walls are made up of 8000 m2 (86,111 sq ft) of Boxwood plants which are trimmed annually. This pruning work takes 1,500 hours, with the help of manual and mechanical cutters, ladders, rulers and levels. It also has plumbed lines of irrigation for the hot summer months.  Many of the boxwoods are almost 400 years old over 70% of the trees in the whole estate and the majority of the boxwoods are original. I personally had only been to corn mazes of the United States and was especially excited to try the historic boxwood maze.

On our way we were not disappointed.

We passed the marble table balancing on a tree stump and the area cordoned off to show the paths as they were wonderfully covered in moss like carpets of green. What was enchanting and an extra privileged tourist moment was that some of the paths (not cordoned off) were also plush green carpets due to the lack of foot traffic during the pandemic and shutdowns. The last photo above shows a path open to the public still lush with soft moss.

In accordance to the theme of the estate, the maze follows a religious path,  Luigi Bernini a top Vatican architect of the time and the future Saint Gregorio, collaborated on the labyrinth to make it a spiritual experience.  Every promising, shortcut considerably lengthens the walk and ends up in one of the six dead ends which represent the first six cardinal sins ( lust, gluttony, greed, sloth,  wrath, envy) or at the seventh which leads to an endless loop and represents the most insidious cardinal sin: arrogance/pride.

View the video to see how huge and beautiful the boxwood are. 

The premise is that each error you make  forces you to refocus, retrace your steps and repent your sins. Those who repent may find the right path but may also meet new dilemmas or repeat the same incorrect path. 1.5 km repeated can add up to a long journey.

Our path was not the perfect one, our venture off the correct path led us to the seventh sin. The potential endless loop. Here is the sign that told us our penance. 

Religious or not, the maze is symbolic of the paths we choose. Seldom are we consciously choosing right or wrong, sin or no sin. We are solely making a choice taken on the spur of a moment.

Our individual path contains so many choices and so many possible different paths. In my view, the ultimate right and wrong choice comes not in the initial choice of path but in our reaction when we come to a sign. Just like the posted signs in the maze, our conscious choice comes when you have a realization, a revelation that something is wrong. It is then that your choice has consequences and purpose.  Do you turn around and retrace your step until you are on the right path again, or do you continue on the same path? Committed, stubborn, maybe arrogant in our  initial path. We are only human, sometimes we have committed to a path with such conviction, it is hard to backtrack, it may seem impossible.  But I have no doubt that true strength comes from the ability to acknowledge mistake, take responsibility and return to the right path.

I wish only that the signs in real life, were as literal as the ones at the Labyrinth at Valsanziobio.  There have been many times in my life when I have had to examine my conscience to see if I am making the right path choice, choose whether to retrace my steps, maybe apologize to others or myself and turn around in the hope I may find the right way again. A sign posted in bold, translated into my language like the ones in the labyrinth at Valsanzibio would have been supremely welcome.

Life does not come with emergency exits or signs in bold showing us the right or wrong path. The hedges are high on all our life paths, higher for some than others, some face a route with  more dead ends than others, some find the dead ends or endless loops are not translated into their language or culture or demographic. I wish it was different, more equal.

Moving back to our route, we came to one corner and doubted our path, we as a family turned around and were hesitant in our choice.  Hesitant in which way was the path we had come from and where we should go. I looked up. In the middle of the maze there is a beautiful viewing tower. I saw a man smiling at us, he nodded and indicated in a direction. We took his path and within 50 ft we were at the tower too which marks the end of the maze- he had led us in the right direction.

He was coming down the steps of the tower as we came up. He smiled but did not comment - his joy had been in his small hint to us which put us in the right direction. We had shared a moment, an achievement but he wanted no recognition. It was our turn to mount the tower to help someone else.   Maybe if this is the lesson, he is the teacher. We get to navigate the maze of life, accept guidance when offered be it a physical sign or a gentle nod and then we get to stand on the tower where we can see the whole plan beneath us and guide people with the same gentle nod in the right direction. No shouting, no dictating, simply a smile, a nod, and no praise required, the seamless pass of the baton to the next person mounting the tower to view the situation below and gently guide others.

Finally at the top of the tower there is a clear vision of where you have come and where you are going. Maybe the gentle nod you can offer others from your viewpoint is how Saint Gregorio saw God.

The beautiful vantage point.

We left the maze. There was more to see and more lessons to learn from this Garden.

Hermits cave - the place one should go to contemplate your journey through the Labyrinth. Reminding us that we should not take our achievements for granted but take time to process the route which we took and the struggles or good fortune which took us to this moment in time.

It is perhaps not a coincidence that Saint Gregorio also contemplated time and added a statute to his garden showing the fragility and enormity of time. The Statue of Time - this is the statute of Cronos, the 'God of Time'. He is leaning on a sand clock measuring the time and at the same time weighted down by time. Weighing him down is a dodecahedron which has twelve sides, representing the twelve months of the year. As the sun moves during the day each side is illuminated differently symbolizing how some years are "good" (brightly lit), and some are "bad" ( have little illumination). Maybe a most suitable analogy in present time.

At the base of the statute is an inscription - ‘Volan col Tempo l’hore e fuggon gli anni’ (‘Fly with time the hours and escape the years’) This is not in any literature but I strongly believe art is art because of each individual's interpretation so here is my interpretation. I interpret the quote as a warning not to not waste the years by examining every hour. Release yourself to the journey of time not the burdens of time keeping. Cronos has wings but he looks so frozen by the burden of monitoring the time (the sand clock) and the brevity of time (the weight of the twelve months) that he cannot use his wings. What point is time if you are paralyzed and cannot move for the fear of losing it.

I certainly have felt this paralysis. Time marches on, first walking pace, then running and then sprinting towards the inevitable end. Minutes, hours, days and years pass by without hesitation, but the only thing I wanted time to do, was hesitate, so in the best scenario I could at least acclimatize to the new speed. It is only when I take a breath and realize time is completely out of my control that I can use my 'wings again' and move forward.

As a child I used to have a hard time falling asleep. I would look at the clock the whole night doing the math and telling myself how few hours I had left to sleep before my alarm for school and how hard the next day would be because of my lack of sleep. It wasn't until I came to my own conclusion that this 'fixation on time watching' was detrimental to my health not 'time itself' that I could reset my mindset. I focused on feeling lucky to be comfortable in a warm, quiet space instead of trying to control elements of life completely out of my reach. I fell asleep much faster and still use this technique today.

More delights with less philosophy around the corner in the Rabbit's Island.

Seeing the sign for Rabbit's Island directing us into an area surrounded again by the beautiful old boxwoods,  I expected to see a few statues of rabbits, but what a delight it was to see real rabbits hopping around the island in and out of their own miniature stately home, feasting on hay and enjoying the sunshine. My abundance of  joy was slightly downgraded when I found out that the rabbits had been a source of food for the family, but I was not as surprised to find out that this island also has a biblical reason.  According to the literature the Rabbit's Island is a physical representation of how the human body is limited by the confines of space and time.  To me the rabbits seemed pretty happy in their tiny stately home with food and company abundant.

With a skip in my step we turned the corner passed the Statue of Time to the the Villa.

Villa Barbarigo Pizzoni Ardemani, is stunning in its pink and yellow facade against the frame of the boxwood and backdrop of the Colli Euganei Hills it is quite a sight. You cannot enter the Villa but you can walk the Stairway of the Sonnets. Seven steps with two lines each step.

English Translation

Curious voyager that in this location Arrives and thinks of admiring rare things

Whatever beautiful & good you will see here All is thanks to nature and not art

Here the sun rays are even more bright Here Venus is even more beautiful

The moon is here even more shining Here Mars’ rage is banished

Here Saturn does not eat his own children Here Jupiter is happy and smiling

Here Mercury loses all his fraud

Here you do not cry, but you laugh

Venice’s problems from here are not heard In Venice there is Hell and here instead there is Paradise

It is unknown who wrote the sonnet but it is thought to be Saint Gregorio himself. Seven verses may represent the days of the week linking in the element of time, Venice and it's corruption is left behind through the journey of salvation which led you to this step and the joys of nature in the garden your reward. But on the path to the Villa you are tempted by seats to the left and right where you will be trapped by the water which spouts out every few minutes and even the person who rushes up the steps, without reading the sonnet may be met with a water fountain which blocks their path.

On leaving the Villa we follow the Path of Redemption to complete a full circle back to the entrance gate of Helena. This time from the inside. On entry from the marshlands it must have been a wonderful feeling to enter under Sileno's Archway to be greeted by the luxurious view of statues, fish ponds and white and black swans. Venice's problems would indeed seem left behind, as though you had entered paradise.

The Venetian Alley - viewed above is a narrow boxwood hedged path which runs the entire length of the garden. 400 meters (4.37 yards) and is less than 1.5 meters (1.6 yards) wide. It is meant to reproduce the typical venetian alley. It runs parallel to the beautiful statute laden Water Boulevard leading from the Diana's Doorway. It certainly seems like a tradesman's entrance - a reminder of how enclosed from light and nature the city is.

In conclusion, I highly recommend a visit to the Valsanzibio Gardens. Expect a magical, spiritual, historical walk in a beautiful location. Even the journey to the entrance - Helena gate is a joy, as you wind through the hills, spa towns and vineyards. The playful water features, unique statues, natural wildflowers, fish ponds, moss carpets, toads (more to come on the toads), rabbits, swans and the amazing labyrinth are a delight. Though equally well maintained and well planned, the estate is different to the typical English garden; the flowers are typical woodland flowers, wildflowers and rhododendron. There are no rose gardens, or display of spring bulbs, but a simple and natural path as though allowing the immensity of our own path through life to take center stage.