The Garden Lover's Guide to Italy (Garden Lover's Guides) [Paperback]

Penelope Hobhouse (Author)

Book Description

Series: Garden Lover's Guides | Publication Date: March 1, 1998

This authoritative new series of guidebooks to the gardens of Europe is the perfect companion for any garden enthusiast, whether tourist or armchair traveler. Each title is a richly illustrated in-depth guide to over 100 gardens, from the famous to little-known hidden treasures, and features colorful photography and easy-to-read illustrations commissioned especially for this series. Also included are maps, directions, complete visitor information, special features, and neighboring sites of interest.
Each guide, written by a gardening expert, begins with a comprehensive background on the country's garden history and local climate. The most significant gardens in each volume are featured in even greater detail, accompanied by illustrated plans of the gardens and close-up views of particular features. The numerous color photographs and maps show travelers what awaits at each garden. The Garden Lover's Guides are indispensible aids for those planning European travel itineraries.
The Garden Lover's Guide to Britain, written by Patrick Taylor, ranges from the sweeping views of Stourhead to the jungle-like ambiance of Inverewe on the Scottish coast.
The Garden Lover's Guide to Italy includes the Villa del Balbianello at Lake Como, Roman villa gardens, and the exotic, sub-tropical parks of Sicily.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A new series of richly illustrated garden tour books can be your ticket to seeing the best of Europe's horticultural legacy. Each of The Garden Lovers Guides explores more than 100 of that country's most beautiful gardens, all open to the public. Written by top international gardening experts like Penelope Hobhouse and Patrick Taylor, these guidebooks stress history and national identity as the keys to understanding the very different characteristics of each country's gardens. Vestiges of Roman times can still be seen in Italian gardens, and in Germany, many splendid gardens in the east have just been opened to a wider audience in the last few years. The maps make garden touring easy to organize." -- Hemisphere

These fine guidebooks are the traveling gardener's Baedeker. -- Los Angeles Times Syndicate

About the Author

Penelope Hobhouse is an internationally renowned garden writer and garden planning consultant. Her publications include Color in Your Garden, The Country Garden , and Garden Style.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568981309
• ISBN-13: 978-1568981307
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,055,371 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The serious garden lover's essential Italian garden guide, June 9, 2000

By 

DR Gill Hood (New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Garden Lover's Guide to Italy (Garden Lover's Guides) (Paperback)

This is the most comprehensive guide I have found to Italian gardens open for visitng. Written by Penelope Hobhouse, one of England's foremost garden designers, it offers a real garden-lovers insight into what makes Italian gardens truly unique in style. The book is laid out in sections according to regions of Italy with good regional maps attached for route planning. Each garden has its own summary including an history of its design and later modifications, with elegant pictures, symbols denoting especial features, hours of opening, and other nearby sights worth visiting. "Gardens of Italy" is a slim volume perfect for not only plannning a comprehensive garden-accented trip from home but also small enough to carry whilst travelling. It is best used as an aide for advance planning rather than ad-hoc garden visits as many gardens are privately owned and visits are by appointment / advance arrangement only, a fact which Hobhouse notes in herforeword, but which after all is hardly her fault!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Hard to Use, February 4, 2006

By 

NH Gardener (Just a mile or two from Maine.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Garden Lover's Guide to Italy (Garden Lover's Guides) (Paperback)

I visited Tuscany & the Marches & Florence this past September (2005) and bought this book to guide me through planning a garden tour itinerary. Initially I thought the book's organization structure of grouping gardens in chapters devoted to a particular region would be perfect. It turned out to be very hard to use and frustrating. In the chapters, the gardens are sometimes listed by their name and sometimes by their town so there is no logical order. Plus on the maps the gardens are numbered haphazardly - the five gardens around Padua should be numbered sequentially but instead they are 2,3,4 and 8&9. The info for each garden though is detailed and lists the hours, fees, who to contact for appointment only gardens and nearby sights. It also covers the history of the garden. If you are going to tour gardens in Tuscany and Florence I would highly recommend a book I found in Florence at the Boboli Gardens. It is "Gardens of Florence and Tuscany - A Complete Guide" by Mariachiara Pozzana and is published through Giunti. The ISBN is 8809020642. It has MANY more gardens listed, lots of history and information and is well organized. Translated into English.