The Roof-top Garden of the Fumone Castle has a vaguely trapezoidal plan and it stretches over an area of approximately 3500 mq at an altitude of 800 m.
It is one of Europe's largest suspended roof gardens.
Its construction was completed in the seventeenth century with the use of at least 20,000 hours of work, hundreds of tons of soild from the chestnut woods, transported on the backs of mules and on shoulders, which were placed on the vaults of old bathing areas of guards that were transformed into tanks for irrigation and water reserve for castle activities.
In fact it is the hanging garden that characterizes the transformation of the ancient military fortress into a noble residence, extolling its appearance.
Its construction is inspired by some canons written in the treatises on gardens of the fifteenth century, such as the "De Re Aedificatoria" the architecture treatise by the great Leon Battista Alberti.
The Marchesi Longhi exploited the scenic potential of panoramic views and heights, introducing varied and indefinite perspectives into their gardens.
From the botanical point of view, they preferred to grow evergreen species, plants with dense and compact foliage such as laurel, boxwood, thuja and other plants suitable for creating geometric hedges and fencing. For the tree part, they decided to plant mainly pine, cypress and holm.
The garden was also equipped with an efficient drainage system that, with a branched internal channel system, allowed the water to flow outward by means of an ingenious slope system.
The Fumone Castle gardens are placed on two different levels: the upper structure, about 2000 square meters, is characterized by a subdivision into regular compartments bordered by boxwood hedges, located on the sides of a cypress aisle.
The central avenue, in which at a certain point emerges from the ground the summit of Monte Fumone, that according to the legend would be the herald of good luck earned with one touch, ends with a Roman marble column of Luni of the 2nd century AD. The column is decorated with bas-reliefs depicting leaves and pine cones.
A second lower level was built in the early 1700s and is characterized by the presence of centuries-old laurel trees.
Among the curiosities kept in the hanging gardens there is a cavity covered by a large stone block placed a hundred years ago, it is said to remind each person of the important wishes he has exhausted.
The tree of love is very much appreciated by visitors, a giant chinese weeping cypress resulting from the unification of two trees.
The incomparable frame of this garden is surely the magnificent landscape you can admire while walking. The marvelous view, from this exceptional location, can embrace about forty-five towns, from the Latium Hills to the north to the Ausoni Mountains to the south, framed by the Ernici Mountains to the east and the Lepini to the West.
It is from here that we understand the strategic importance of Fumone in time, a special castle setting and therefore subjected to "special jurisdiction" by the Pontifical State.
(Elisa Potenziani)
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