Leonardo's Garden Comes to Life in Milan

Jonathan Fargion (May 20, 2019)

If you are passionate about gardens and green events, and you live in Milan, you would never want to miss the event of the year that celebrates green outdoor spaces. This event takes place in Milan every May, and it’s called Orticola.

Orticola is an important organization that was established in 1854, and since then it has archived and transmitted the horticulture knowledge of gardens and plants of Lombardy.

The Orticola flower show is the most important Italian show for national and international specialized nurseries. This year’s theme is “Companion Planting: Good Botanical Associations”

In 2019 Milan is celebrating Leonardo da Vinci since 500 years have passed since his death.

For this reason, Orticola has created what they called “Orticola per LEONARDO500”.

In the Sforza Castle, there is a special room called 'Sale Delle Asse', that has been restored to its original splendor; this room is extraordinary because it was decorated by the Master himself, with a special trompe l’oeil effect of a trained forest embracing the room. The room is magical, it really feels like you are immersed in a marvelous green world.

To celebrate the extraordinary opening of this room to the public, Orticola thought to recreate the room's wall decorations in real life in the Cortile Delle Armi, one of the castle's courtyards.

They installed a beautiful wooden structure that will be supporting the growth of 16 Mulberry trees (Morus Alba).

In the next few years we will see how the trees will be trained on the structure and become a vegetative room in the garden, mimicking the room designed by Leonardo da Vinci. The project is intended to spark the interest of the general public in the beautiful room, but also to show the old savoir-faire of antique horticulture techniques that were used in the past. It will be fascinating to see how the structure will grow, evolve and mature over time.

The project was designed by Landscape Architect Filippo Pizzoni and it was promoted by the Municipality of Milan.

This is another wonderful example of how Milan is taking inspiration from its grandiose past and interprets it in a contemporary way.

Milan was a city in which Leonardo da Vinci was incredibly active. It’s beautiful to see how the master is celebrated there in innovative interesting ways.