Italian topiary and hedges create a ‘parterre’ – a formal part of the garden constructed on a level surface which can be observed from above – typically symmetric with gravel paths, and sometimes seasonal flowers.

In her classic work Italian Villas and Their Gardens (1904), Edith Wharton wrote, “The Italian garden does not exist for its flowers; its flowers exist for it: they are a late and infrequent adjunct to its beauties, a parenthetical grace counting only as one more touch in the general effect of enchantment.”  She visited these Renaissance gardens in February of 1903.  We will be visiting these gardens 111 years after her book came out, and experiencing them in February, just as Edith enjoyed them.  I love that!