Parchi Verdi!

So i believe the last thing i left off with was my trip to spain. I safely made it back to italy.. so relieved to be back in Orvieto.. i cant imagine living anywhere else.. ive fallen hard and am not looking forward to the end of my program in just a few short weeks. I havent yet met that reality, so on with the blogging. A few days after my return, our class took a trip to both the Villa Lante and then onto Bomarzo where the Parco dei Mostri rests in a valley. Both of these are famous italian gardens/parks, but with contrasting ideas. 

The idea behind this garden is that of a progression from the wildness of nature, to the complete control that man can accomplish over nature. A bit bitchy in my opinion, but still an interesting idea/execution. In modern times however, this is lost on most because you enter the garden from the point where the natural realm is most controlled and move back towards the rugged portion of the garden.

this was a dining table.. how amazing would this be to have a dinner party!?.. probably a little wet, and a little uncomfortable to sit at, but REGARDLESS

After our exploration concluded, many of us found a spot of grass, a meadow if you will, to lay in and sunbathe for an hour or so.. it was splendid.. minus the clouds that started to loom near the end of our time here. From Villa Lante, we traveled to Bomarzo, another small town where the Parc dei Mostri (Park of Monsters) is located. 

This park was designed (if i am remembering this correctly.. so you might want to wikipedia if you are interested) as a funeral monument to his late wife.. and its basically an open concept.. with statues (of monsters) strewn throughout the park. It was interesting and kind of funny because there was a watcher in the woods (movie reference) who would whistle at you if you got too close to the statues. We ended the day once again laying in the grass. It was bliss.