April 21st is the ribbon cutting day for the first edition of Radicepura Garden Festival, promoted by the Radicepura Foundation. This is a new international event dedicated to garden design and landscape architecture in the Mediterranean, involving young designers, institutions, companies, major protagonists of landscaping, art and architecture.
Until October 21, in the Radicepura botanical park, it is possible to visit fourteen gardens specially made with the most original plants cultivated by Faro Plants, which collects 800 species and over 5000 varieties, thanks to the activity carried on for over 50 years by Venerando Lighthouse, today the company's leader along with his sons Mario and Michele.
The occasion for a new unique festival is of special interest: it is the first festival of gardens organized in a nursery structure. This idea allows to discover not only the "show" of the gardens, but also the reality of the production in the nursery and gives visibility to the work of all the actors of the garden construction, underlining the importance of the collaboration between the world of nursery and that of Of landscaping.
This first edition includes four internationally renowned garden designers who have created for the site-specific garden festival of about 150 square meters each: Michel Péna, Stefano Passerotti, Kamelia Bin Zaal and James Basson.
Six more smaller gardens, ranging between 30 and 50 square meters, are made by young landscapers selected through an international call.
In addition to the ten gardens, Radicepura hosts special plant and art installations for the duration of the festival.
With the opening of the festival, it is also the publication of the volume The Garden of Wonders (Donzelli editore) dedicated to ornamental plants of the Mediterranean, with the watercolors of Lucia Scuderi who will hold a workshop in Radicepura on June 23.
In the first week of the festival there are many events that will animate the park and visit the gardens thanks to the presence of landscaped and internationally renowned guests. Full program at http://www.radicepurafestival.com/.
Cover photo Alfio Garozzo