La Pietra Rossa

The brief for this show garden, designed by Maurizio Usai in 2013 for the plant fair La Conserva della Neve in the grounds of Villa Borghese in Rome, was for a ‘Mediterranean dry garden’.

​

To raise awareness about how the essence of the Mediterranean garden can often be misunderstood and abused, Usai references three types of landscape in this garden. In so doing he creates at one end of the display a stereotype of ‘gardening in the south’, whilst at the other end of the garden there is a plant-led design that is respectful of ‘the spirit of the Mediterranean’.

 

Finally, at the heart of the display is a naturalistic Mediterranean woodland, which makes reference to the classical English landscape garden.