We The Italians | Italian gardens and parks: The Garden of Aquatic Plants

Italian gardens and parks: The Garden of Aquatic Plants

Italian gardens and parks: The Garden of Aquatic Plants

  • WTI Magazine #163 May 20, 2023
  • 576

The Garden of Aquatic Plants, also called Porcinai Pool, is located on the island Polvese in the protected area of the Park of the Trasimeno, Umbria. 

It was built in the late 50s of the twentieth century, commissioned by Count Giannino Citterio, owner of the island, by the great landscape architect Peter Porcinai (1910-1986), who created a pool depth of 5.2 yards fully excavated in the rock.

The water, which is pumped from Lake Trasimeno, is collected in the large central pool of rectangular shape, which has a maximum depth of about 3.5 yards, and in the side tanks of irregular shapes, created on the north side of the pool surrounded by the escarpment, small and shallow (maximum approximately 0.50 yards) with the function of nymphaeums for aquatic plants (tanks of stagnant water).

The combination of the variety of water lilies and other aquatic plants have been studied by Porcinai so as to enhance the cromatisms of the blooms and, simultaneously, with the presence of cattail (Typha latifolia), help the phyto-purification.

The garden is divided into three bands placed at different heights. The first is characterized by the presence in the east of olive trees (Olea europaea) and a small grove of oaks (Quercus ilex). The second floor consists of the terraced flat around the pool and side tanks with the growing collection of water plants. The third, in the gradient, is formed by an olive tree grove.

Among the special features of the garden we can find three pairs of chairs made of large slabs of sandstone placed on the floor and in the terraced slope east of the pool.