The original lines and dimensions of the ancient garden have been lost. They must have been six times larger. But Manfredi Patitucci, garden designer – some would say garden designer – and landscape designer has not lost heart. “There is no evidence of the fifteenth-century forms of the garden, but we have a suggestion that takes us to the end of the sixteenth century”, he underlines somewhat in the role of an investigator of history at the end of the guided tour among roses and fruit trees, benches and young people in break in the gardens of Palazzo Schifanoia.
Around thirty people, some tourists, mostly from Ferrara. While he speaks they interrupt him, ask questions, there is so much curiosity in that green strip surrounded by walls, the kiosk with tables and chairs, some students having a little breakfast on Manet’s grass, strictly in jeans, just a little exposed beyond the navel line. The reference, the trace to understand what it was like, is in the map of Ferrara in the year 1597 by Filippo Borgatti, from 1895. “In the quadripartite composition – explains Patitucci – each of the four parts had a circular or square shaped surface drawn in the center to create a break from walking. The ancient garden of Palazzo Schifanoia was part of the tradition of making gardens that established itself in the Italian courts of the Renaissance, a grassy surface crossed by paths that divided the area into four equal parts”. Thus, it was precisely from the comparison between Borgatti’s drawing and the current state of the place that it was possible to trace some signs that the project took advantage of. The people who oversaw the birth of the garden have a name and surname, roles, passion and the ability to translate history, to bring it to life in that green oasis. The team is made up of architect Rossella Bizzi, from the Municipality, responsible for the architectural project and management of the works, and engineer Paolo Rebecchi, also from the Municipality, responsible for the procedure. Then there’s him, Patitucci, responsible for landscape consultancy and artistic direction. Which further explains which dictates he followed, what he wanted to tell using fronds and grafts, trees and blades of grass as a trait. “The new design of the garden – he goes into detail – aims to create a margin along the north side, where the interruption of the original layout is more evident”. There is a sort of crumbling wall, the tourists turn their heads, look at it, someone shakes their head. “Compositional elements that address plant species and cultivation practices specific to the culture of the Renaissance garden have been introduced”, he specifies. Here then, a pergola, hedges and ancient fruit trees trained in espalier together with trees in rows like hedges. With a touch of fantasy. “The pergola is an innovative element that is arranged by tracing the measurement of the central path of the garden to 1597. This metal structure, together with a row of trees, is the new axis of the garden”.
The roses climb up the pergola. The two wings are symmetrical with respect to the main entrance. The arm on the right leads to the intimate space of a walk, punctuated by trees. The arm on the left goes towards the catering building with a passage along which fruit trees are espaliered to a metal structure. A couple walks under the arch of climbing roses of the pergola. Glasses, tennis, Nike tracksuit, thoughts of the Renaissance.
