113 RUSSELL PAGE JOURNEY AROUND ITALY
About halfway through the 1950s, the British landscape gardener arrived inTurin to design his first garden. In the end, he changed Italy’s green heritage and created some of its masterpieces. All waiting to be rediscovered
Landscape architect Russell Page was here. This plaque could adorn hundreds of parks around the world. He may not be a household name but the dignified Englishman with the diction and sense of timing of an Edwardian actor designed show-stopping gardens. Born in a Lincolnshire village in 1906, Page (d. 1985) was one of the greatest landscape architects of the 20th century, a green thumb par excellence who created more than 500 celebrated gardens of various sizes and styles around the world. In Italy, he planted 29 gardens scattered from the north to the south, even though only a dozen still exist. With affection, he was known in Italy simply as “L’inglese”. «He had a love for our country that was touching», said Paolo Pejrone, the renowned landscape architect who was Page’s student and a great fan of his work. «He arrived [in Italy] soon after WorldWar II when the rundown, neglected parks had become gardens or hay fields and having a simple flower patch was a status symbol». And yet some of his most interesting projects are located on this boot-shaped peninsula. Among these, his favourite was San Liberato on a gently sloping hillside overlooking Lake Bracciano outside Rome. In 1964, Count Sanminiatelli contacted Page to create a botanical garden on his estate. “L’inglese” designed a harmonious botanical garden featuring Canadian maples and Japanese cherry blossom trees. A few years early, in Turin’s hills, he designed a triumphant formal garden at Villa Silvio Pellico that even today displays a modern air. «In Moncalieri, Page played his cards well, designing a classical Italian garden with a special air all its own», Pejrone continued. A succession of terraces, stairways and pools of water are surrounded by geometric-shaped parterres and gravel paths. No other park created by Page in Europe demonstrates better the harmony between the natural and artificial worlds. And to think that he never had garden of his own, with the exception of violets in his London home. «I have set myself one or two simple rules», Page wrote in The Education of a Gardener, a groundbreaking book in every sense. «First of all, I try to put myself in my client’s place and imagine that I have to spend the rest of my life with the garden which I am going to lay out». Without a doubt, this rule pleased the wife of
the English composer Sir WilliamWalton. Lady SusanaWalton received extensive guidance from Page when she began working on the rocky terrain of La Mortella, her estate on the island of Ischia. The lush oasis that we enjoy today flourishes with camellia shrubs, meadows of agapanthus, ferns and tulip trees. The botanic beauties shade the valley overlooking the gulf, suggesting a certain inevitability. That’s exactly what Page intended in his designs: not being able to imagine any other garden in that particular setting. For instance, his layout for the Landriana gardens in the province of Rome is divided into ‘rooms’ with botanic species from the Mediterranean. Meanwhile, the gardens of Villa Brandolini d’Adda in northeast Italy offer a romantic journey through meadows and bamboo groves. «It’s difficult to categorize him», admitted Pejrone. «Each of his works is distinctive. They’re different and unique, changing with the context, climate, architecture of the home, even the land. His originality was what made him unique». But there’s a leitmotiv. It’s in the proportions he used – firm, precise and almost always divisible by three – and his obsession with water. If water wasn’t naturally there, he’d bring it in, creating rivulets, streams, small pools or strings of lakes. At Villar Perosa, in the summer residence of the Agnelli family of FIAT fame, there are no less than 11 bodies of water. «That was Page for you. In a garden, he had no fear of anyone or anything», Pejrone said. «Garden designing was his battleground». As a person, Page was strict, taciturn and very tall with long legs. A man of few but often biting words, he was often gazing at the horizon with a cigarette hanging from his mouth. He believed that the role of a gardener was to help us believe in paradise. And, thanks to him, we’ve found heaven on earth.