How to reach us:

From the A1 Motorway Firenze - Roma exit at VALDARNO (33 kilometers from Firenze Sud). Turn right and follow signs for AREZZO S.P. 59. Do not follow other road signs for AREZZO but only those with S.P. 59. After exactly 8 kilometers you will find a sign indicating CICOGNA. Follow this sign and go straight through the village. After just 100 meters you will find the sign 'FATTORIA DELLA NAVE'.

History

Della Nave Park was built in the second half of the 1800s and became part of the ‘landscape’ gardens founded in Italy from the late 1700s to the late 1800s , a century in which this widespread style of garden was known as the ‘English’ or ‘Naturalistic’ style.
The English garden, free in its appearance and order contrasted with the formal rigid and geometrical style which was typical of the Italian renaissance and baroque period. Introduced by the French architects in their home country as the original ‘French’ gardens, the prototype being the abundant Park of the Versailles Palace.

Very widespread in this era and of great interest to collectors was that they used a great number of special vegetation, usually exotic. It was in fact in fashion to create Exotic botanical gardens and the Parco Della Nave is a symbolic example with its rare and extremely interesting Botanical collection.

The plants found commonly today in the garden that were to become an integral part of the Tuscan landscape arrived therefore in this manner on our land often with surprisingly aesthetic results.

Botanical Collections

In the Parco Della Nave the predominant style of he collection is testimonial to the considerable amount of species of trees found (120), not to mention the high number (more than 700 alone are long trunked trees). Plants come from all over the world and today can be found in specialist nurseries. However in the era when the park was built were rare and difficult to find.

Indeed, the owner Ferdinando Della Nave, a botanical expert and the creator and designer of the park restored relationships that were greatly beneficial with other passionate and celebrated botanics of the era. They were either Florentines (Mercatelli) of foreigners but above all English, Belgian and French (Vilmorin).

His scientific background and his intuition allowed them to use the most suitable plants either foreign or local for the pedological and climatic conditions. He dedicated his life to the most interesting Botanical collections not to mention a park so exclusive and refined in a relatively extensive space (around 32 000mq).


The Botanical Garden

In the 18th and 19th centuries exotic plants were introduced in England because its climate lent itself to the acclimatisation of species that came from colonial estates.

As a consequence of the acclimatisation, the plants entered into the European flower market.

The big store was from America: Sequoia, Taxdium, Magnolie, Chamaecyparis, Fagus, Aceri, Quercus etc. and the Far East (China and Japan): Gingko, Metasequoia, Criptomeria, Thuia, Salix babilonica, Nespolo, Camelie etc.

Many of these species are present in the Parco Della Nave with specimens that have dimensions and stems that arouse wonder and admiration; see some of the cedar conifers (Cedrus atlantica, deodara and libani) and the bald cypress trees (Taxodium Disticum), on the banks of the man-made lake with almost unreal chromatic results.

Also, the vegetation that surrounds the lake is rendered very particular (green in Spring, yellow in the Summer and golden in the Autumn) by using the ‘tree of three coins’ (Gingko biloba) already experimented with and used successfully by the architect Poggi in the second half of the 1800s in Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence. Worth noting is also the use of the American walnut grove (Liquidambar Styraciflua) at the lake to create the effect of autumn foliage.

Most recently, up until the 1940s, the park was enriched with another exotic species - the Metasequoia (metasequoia glyptostroboiedes Hu & Cheng) discovered in China during the Second World. Beforehand it was only known about through fossils and due to its elegant form and dense foliage it was introduced in Europe as an ornamental plant. Amongst the specimens, some of the most "ancient" exist here in Italy.

Finally, great admiration is aroused by the gigantic centuries old Sequoia (Sequoiadendron Giganteum B.) unfortunately partly damaged by lightning which stands more than 35 metres tall with a circumference spanning more than 5.2 metres. It is included in the category of “Monumental Italian Trees”.

The monumental tree

The tree pictured in the photograph (Sequoiadendron Giganteum B.) is taller than 35 metres, has a 5.20 metre circumference, is over one hundred years old and is one of the “monumental trees of Italy”.