Gardens of Bomarzo

The sacred grove of Bomarzo, more commonly known as Gardens of Bomarzo or Monster Park, is a fantastic theme Park built during the 16th century AD. It is dotted with huge statues representing a mix of mythological and real characters. The project was assigned to the architect Pirro Logorio who completed Saint Peter Cathedral and designed Villa d'Este in Tivoli. If you have already visited Villa D'Este, you can probably see the difference with its regular layout: it’s quite impressive considering that the mind behind both of those works was the same!

Far away from the symmetrical Italian garden, the reason behind the choice of the irregular layout and unrelated sculptures is unknown: after all it was built to astonish, and even after five centuries it is still accomplishing its original goal! The park fell into oblivion and was brought back to its actual magnificent look only in the 70s. The Gardens of Bomarzo is located 94 km north of Rome, and can be reached by train going to Viterbo or Orte before jumping on the omnipresent Cotral bus to Bomarzo.