Venice is a city of canals, palazzos, stunning views and—who knew?—gardens.
The gardens, specifically the Royal Gardens, built on orders from Napoleon, will now be getting a €5 million makeover, with the cost split between Italy's Culture Ministry and the Generali insurance company. The work will include better pedestrian access and a small cafe.
The gardens are located between the Grand Canal and the former royal palace that faces the canal on one side and St. Mark's square on the other. Most people (author included) have only seen it from the windows of the palace, now largely occupied by the Museo Correr.
The president of the Venice Gardens Foundation, Adele de Rebaudengo, said the work will update the gardens "in a formal and precise way, in keeping with its historic nineteenth-century design, but at the same time filled with the unexpected."
The palace itself, whose square-side lower floor contains some of Venice's famed coffee houses, including Florian's, had a renovation of its own only a few years ago, restoring the 'imperial rooms' occupied first by Napoleonic-era officials and then by Habsburg royals, including the wife of Emperor Franz-Joseph. Venice has had a touchy relationship with the palace, symbolizing as it does the end of Venice's independence in 1797 and its rule thereafter by Austria.
The restoration funding continues a recent pattern of Italian fashion and luxury goods companies funding restoration of monuments and gardens, including such projects in Rome as the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountains and the Colosseum. Less than a month ago, Gucci announced that it will fund the restoration of Florence's Boboli Gardens.
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