"The Park of The Medieval Monsters..." Bomarzo by coceng

Bomarzo Travel Guide: 61 reviews and 83 photos

ROME<<<<<BOMARZO>>>>>CIVITA DE BAGNOREGIO

ITALYThursday 12th June 2003
...Arriving here from Viterbo. VT doesn't list a place called Viterbo in Italy, so no page I could build on this small town with a good history...
Previously, I arrive in Viterbo by taking the regional train & a bus from Rome...
In Rome, the old man at the reception counter of the hotel where I stayed told me a good way to reach Bomarzo...Follwed the Old One, I said.
Checked out at 7.45 am, ...first, I took the bus no: 61 to Via Bari, then bus no: 490 to Flamini Square..
Taking the regional train to Saxa Rubra...
At Saxa Rubra train station, it was just a small train station, there were lining of buses to various small towns around Rome.
That was about 9 am & reached Viterbo at 10.40 am...
It was a small town allright...wished that I would stay longer because I saw this nice medieval walls...
Started to ask people how to get to Bomarzo....not easy because Italians just don't speak English. Found the place to buy the bus ticket, then where do I leave my luggage?...
A young man suggested that I could leave my luggage at the train station...Walked there, it was not far but didn't feel good crossing the roads with some heavy traffics on the way...The train station said no left luggage office....
Looked for the young guy who suggested me the train station, he's nowhere to be seen...
Asked the bus station where to leave my luggage...again nobody could understand me !
I felt stupid & hapless ! Why couldn't anybody understand me for a simple task ?...
I bought the bus ticket to Bomarzo at this cafe-type shop....looked like a bar to me, maybe at night...
Asked the guy on how to leave my luggage, because I told him that I would be there just for a few hours & would come back to Viterbo because my next destination was Civita de Bagnoregio....He did not understand a word I said !...
I waited for the bus with my heavy luggage next to me....In front of me was heavy traffics....with a traffic policeman doing his chores....
The weather was hot....

Continue...

My next destination after Bomarzo was Civita de Bagnoregio...

A MUST SEE...

I put ALL my Bomarzo photos on my VT page. Click here if you want to read my journey photo by photo.

Click here if you want to go straight to my photos in The MonstersPark.

Bomarzo is a small town, located near Viterbo on the road to Orta.

The Location...

It is the Orsini family's hereditary fief. The Castle rises at the edge of this small town.

The residence's gardens were created by Vicino Orsini, the Duke of Bomarzo. He was born in 1528 and died in 1588. An educated humanist, he was interested in the Arts and was their patron. He devoted his life to the happiness of his House and his wife, Julia Farnese. After Julia Farnese's death, he created the plan for this garden.
He didn't call this garden a giardino, but Bosco Sacro, a Sacred Grove or Bosco dei Monstri, the Monsters' grove. Monster must be understood in the Latin meaning of monstrare, which means to show and demonstrate. This then means that from stop to stop, from stage to stage, each element is a component of an immense, very neoplatonic poem to his lost love. To create this garden, he called on one of the greatest landscapers and architects of his time, Pirro Ligorio.

All the Italian princes came to visit, as did innumerable foreign travelers. Unfortunately, as with most of the Renaissance gardens, the work was neglected.

When it was revisited in the beginning of this century, it was overgrown with trees, everything was half collapsed, all of which merely gave the garden an even more fantastic aspect. It was at this time that Andr? Pieyre de Mandiargue visited and wrote a sublime treatise on the sleeping garden of Bomarzo.
Salvador Dali and Cocteau, the surrealists, discussed it at great length. Bomarzo is in fashion.

Pros and Cons

Pros:An Amazing Renaissance Garden In Rural Italy !
Cons:Hard To Get To ! Overlooked By Tourists To Italy...
In a nutshell:Come Here ONLY If You Want A Sense Of Adventure...

Last visit to Bomarzo: Jun 2003
Intro Updated Feb 16, 2005
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Reviews (50)

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Comments (3)

iandsmith Feb 11, 2004 at 10:59 PM Report Abuse

Puts my effort to shame! The definitive Bomarzo page.
Imbi Nov 13, 2003 at 12:27 AM Report Abuse

So just to get a photo you disturb a lovey-dovey couple. LOL. Enjoyed my virtual tour of Bomarzo
Geisha_Girl Aug 7, 2003 at 1:41 PM Report Abuse

I LIKE this page Arnaud! Bomerzo has always been so fascinating - Holiday locale for Princes and Dali & Cocteau-approved! Sounds like chaos to get here, but you show that it's well-worth it!