The exhibition “Italia giardino del mondo. Where Nature meets Art, Craft and Design” – an integrated promotion project on Italy’s classical and contemporary gardens, produced by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation – was inaugurated at the Italian Cultural Institute of Prague on 27 May.
With the exhibition, Italian gardens become the protagonists of an iconographic journey from the Renaissance to the present day, recounting Italy’s “living monuments” heritage through art photographs and artistic images, to encourage new itineraries of sustainable tourism and the diffusion of a renewed environmental and landscape sensitivity. The event will allow the international public to explore the diverse world of Italian gardens through the elements and design principles that characterise Italian creativity.
The exhibition is divided into cross-cutting thematic axes: landscape, design, use of water, botany, art, social function and skills in the sector, resulting in an interdisciplinary reading from which it emerges how Italian knowledge and techniques are one of the pillars of European culture not only in terms of garden art, but also of landscape design and more generally of the relationship between man and nature.
Accompanying the exhibition is a publication containing all the images on display, author’s photographs and historical iconographic material, with academic essays for each section.
The project was curated by Sabina Minutillo Turtur and Renato Fontana, and carried out by Bye Bye Silos, with the contribution of a scientific committee of academics specialised in garden history and landscape architecture: Chiara Santini (École nationale supérieure de paysage, Versailles), Paolo Cornaglia and Marco Ferrari (Politecnico di Torino), Luigi Latini, Andrés Holguín and Lorenza Gasparella (Università Iuav di Venezia). The Associazione Parchi e Giardini Italiani (Italy’s Parks and Gardens Association), the Fondo per l’Ambiente Italiano (National Trust for Italy) and the garden network Grandi Giardini Italiani are also partners in the initiative.
On display in Prague until 23 August, the “Italia giardino del mondo” exhibition will continue its international tour with the support of the network of Italian Consulates, Embassies and Cultural Institutes.
