Trip into the beauty of nature: the Garden of Ninfa

Last Saturday, during an hot and sunny summer day, after some time we decided to return to visit one of the most fascinating and characteristic places of all our country, not more than half an hour's drive from our housetown: the Garden of Ninfa.

A real open-air monument, located in the municipality of Cisterna di Latina - even if close to the border with Norma and Sermoneta villages - in the area that once housed the analogous ancient medieval town, of which today only a few ruins remain, albeit restored and well kept.

A botanical garden envied us from all over the world, an enchanted place that - at least once in a lifetime - each of us should visit at least one time in his life.

In essence, a typical English garden, started by Gelasio Caetani (descendant of a noble and prestigious family of the area) in 1921, and later further enlarged and improved starting from the 1930s by his brother Roffredo and his wife Marguerite Chapin.

Finally, in 1977 it was donated by the couple's daughter, Leila Caetani, to the "Roffredo Caetani" foundation, which still takes care of its maintenance, its enhancement and its management.

In 2000 the whole area of ​​Ninfa (also including the adjacent WWF natural oasis) was declared a naturalistic monument and the garden - which actually occupies an area of about 106 hectares - was considered by The New York Times as the most beautiful in the world.

Open only during certain moments of the year, the garden is visited by about 70.000 tourists per year, and over the decades it has been visited by numerous prominent personalities, such as Boris Pasternak (the author of Doctor Zhivago), Gabriele d 'Annunzio, the Princes of Wales Carlo and Diana and lately - to remain on the theme of famous 😊 - also by Fedez and Chiara Ferragni who told its beauties through their very popular post.

Inside, thanks to a unique and unrepeatable microclimate, an infinite number of species of plants and flowers from all over the world find their home and development (such as the Japanese maples with pink leaf, the Himalaia pine, the tree fog, tropical banana trees and a small Chinese bamboo forest, just to name a few).

In addition, the Garden and the adjacent oasis are located along one of the main migratory routes for birds that move from Africa to different European countries, and therefore, at certain times of the year inside it you can admire teals, mallards, gadwall, herons, lapwings, as well as some species of birds of prey.

The best perioud to visit the park is undoubtedly May (in correspondence with the flowering of most of the species housed in the Garden), but also in other periods of the year - for example in autumn - between the flowering of some "unconventional" plants and the yellowing of the leaves, the “natural show” is guaranteed, anyway.

Unfortunately, the current rules of social distancing and behavior induced by Covid-19 did not allow to carry out the classic "guided" tour of the Garden, but despite the (more or less) free visit we certainly were not bored, wandering ecstatic between the various thematic areas and taking beautiful photos (like the ones you find here).

Garden of Ninfa, a real path inside wonder of Nature!