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](https://timcookeinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/2.jpg)
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](https://timcookeinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/3.jpg)
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](https://timcookeinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/4.jpg)
The Mausoleum Chapel
![In the Chapel, Villa Taranto](https://timcookeinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/5.jpg)
In the Chapel, Villa Taranto
![In the Chapel, Villa Taranto](https://timcookeinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/6.jpg)
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](https://timcookeinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/7.jpg)
Garden view, Villa Taranto
![A sea of colour, Villa Taranto](https://timcookeinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/8.jpg)
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.