Villa Taranto, Italy

Tim Cooke

It’s a garden plump with form and bursting with colour. There are tens of thousands of plants from five continents. Visitors approach via an alley of conifers, encountering a delightful fountain, the Fontana Dei Putti, garnished with herbaceous borders.

The world-renowned gardens of Villa Taranto

Arriving from the water is a wonderful way to encounter the Giardini Botanici Villa Taranto. As you make your way upward towards the high ground of the jaw-dropping Terrace Garden – which seems to place you more in the sphere of the surrounding mountains than the lake itself – you encounter a series of luscious vistas.

Terrace Garden views, Villa Taranto

The Mausoleum Chapel has a peculiarly settled feel to it and is exquisitely beautiful. Its circular stained glass windows are a particular joy. This is the final resting place of the former owner and garden designer Captain Neil McEacharn, a Scot who donated the gardens to the Italian State. 

The Mausoleum Chapel

In the Chapel, Villa Taranto

In the Chapel, Villa Taranto

The best way to visit is to arrive by ferry if at all possible as approaching from the lake offers vistas setting a spectacular topographical context.

Garden view, Villa Taranto

A sea of colour, Villa Taranto

A memorable way to spend a day on the western shores of this awe-inspiring lake, bejewelled with stories and places to fire the imagination and feast the eye.