18-Dec-22
We slept in, had breakfast, and decided to see what we could find between the hotel and home. We tried to go to one thing, but it turns out it's not there anymore. Onto the second thing!
Dan was not as excited about the Sacred Forest/Monster Park as I was.
Sort of a map of the grounds.
Newer art with old Bomarzo in the background.
Dan, not excited about going into the Villa of Marvels (this place has like seven names) designed by Prince Vicino Orsini and built by Pirro Ligorio in 1552.
This is listed as Pan-Giano, which means breadcrumbs? Or might be a reference to the god Janus.
And the words on the stone maybe say "I will show you the eggs."
Glaucus Proteus - I looked those up, they're both prophetic sea gods.
I loved it. I think my enthusiasm was amusing to Dan.
Sphinx (sfinge)
I tried translating this and got "You who enter here slowly, part by part, and then tell me if so many wonders were done by deception or purely by art."
"If Rhodes was already taller than his colossus, even of this my forest too glories and for not being able to do as much as I can."
Dan, not impressed with Hercules defeating Cacus.
Cacus seems upset by this turn of events.
Even demi-gods need a little extra support.
A little waterfall!
Tortoise!
Apparently Orsini created the gardens as a way to deal with his grief over the death of his wife. If I go before Dan, I hope he creates a fantastical garden.
Orca! NOM! Aaaaaaagh!
Pegasus fountain.
We'll never know if this artist had seen a lion.
The Nymphaeum - a shrine to the nymphs.
Really ugly dolphins - ala classical art and submarines, not the mammals.
Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!
Theater.
Salvador Dali came to visit the park in 1938 and made a short film about it. You can see it here.
The garden also inspired him to paint The Temptation of Saint Anthony.
Leaning House.
You could go inside the upper floor. I wonder if Orsini ever slept out here. Or anyone from the Bettini family (current owners of the park.)
I also wonder how much the woods have grown since the gardens were built/sculpted. Would it have been all clear cut originally? A few trees picturesquely dotting the vista?
Neptune!
Hannibal's war elephant crushing a Roman.
A dragon being attacked by "lions."
Not sculpture related. These berries are SO BLUE! And the way the light hit them, they were almost iridescent. Anyway, back to the monsters.
Ceres, goddess of agriculture, grain crops, fertility and motherly relationships.
Also planters as headgear.
Dan and the elephant.
Dan and the dragon!
Elephant butt.
Orco (orc). From Wikipedia - "with its mouth wide open and on whose upper lip it is inscribed "OGNI PENSIERO VOLA" ("All Thoughts Fly"), which is illustrated by the fact that the acoustics of the mouth mean that any whisper made inside is clearly heard by anyone standing at the base of the steps. Art historian Luke Morgan describes this sculpture as "The Hell Mouth" and notes that people dined in it, producing the effect of simultaneously eating and being eaten; this duality is representative of 16th century "monsters" in Italian gardens. The Hell Mouth is also only a fragment of a whole body, and thus grotesque."
Etruscan Bench. It says "You who. wandering around the world, long to see tall and stupendous marvels, come here where there are hideous faces of elephants, lions, bears, ogres, and dragons."
It's a lady! It's a bench! It's both a lady and a bench! It's Persephone!
Piazzale Pigne - Pinecone Place.
This "bear" has a giant flower for you.
I thought these were weird mermaids, but this one is Echidna. She is half woman, half snake, and mother to most of the famous monsters in Greek mythology.
This one is a Fury.
Cerberus! Whose a good boy?!
A small temple. It's like so many churches we've seen, only little.
It's the Temple of Eternity and dedicated to Orsini's wife, Giulia Farnese. It is currently the resting place of Giovanni Bettini and Tina Severi, the owners who restored the garden.
Oh, hey. There's Bomarzo.
We were there!
I loved it. I thought it was so weird and great. I'm glad we stopped.
They also had a nice playground done in the style of the garden.
Dan wanted to know why the tractor attachments were cow-shaped. I didn't have an answer for him.
Bye Sacred Forest!!!
Not too far from the garden is supposed to be an Etruscan pyramid. I wanted to see if we could go on a short hike to find it. Along the hike we found this tombstone to Musetto.
I took a wrong turn through the shrubs, but it was worth it. It took me out to this view.
It was bright looking into the sun.
So pretty!
We mucked about up here for a little bit longer trying to find where a pyramid might be.
I went scrambling down some rocks back before the shrubs to see what I could find.
I found a tomb? Cube with doors? Something.
I poked around a bit more and decided we didn't really have the appropriate footwear or clothes to go rock scrambling looking for the pyramid. I'm sorry we couldn't find it today, but the accidental view was totally worth it. The rest of our drive home was uneventful.
