At the feet of the Lepini Mountains, corresponding with a majestic resurgence that pushed the ancient people to consecrate the location to the Ninfe (as is found in the writings of Plinio) rose the important inhabited center in the Middle Ages with the name, as you guessed, Ninfa. In the twelfth century, moment of maximum splendor, the city had seven churches and was surrounded by a city wall, but then in the 14th century devastating fights internally and a war with the neighboring cities brought about the fall of Ninfa and its definitive abandonment.
Estate of the noble Roman Caetani family since the 13th century, at the beginning of the 20th century Ada Wilbraham, of British origin and wife of Prince Onorato Caetani, was impressed by the fascinating ancient remains and of the very old springs, and she decided to transform the entire zone into a garden.
The following generation, Gelasio Caetani and American wife, Marguerite Chapin, brought ahead the creation of the garden, but the actual dimensions and definitive configuration are mostly due to the third and last lady of the lineage, Lelia Caetani, talented landscaper and accomplished painter.
When Ada Wilbrahan said that, at the beginning of the work, the location was in a state of complete abandonment, the remains of the towers and of the old houses, the creeping vegetation that climbed everywhere, the water streamed forming little pools that gave it a wild and romantic appearance.
The layout of the garden was meant from the beginning to safeguard this informal, not geometric, aspect, the apparent spontaneous aspect of a typical English garden.
For information and reservations:
www.fondazionecaetani.org
