La Mortella Gardens, Ischia

The most famous gardens on Ischia are the Mortella Gardens. Unlike most famous gardens in Italy, this one is fairly modern, from the 20th Century.  It was the garden of a famous English composer's Argentinian wife. The style of the garden is much different than most gardens I have been to in Italy. There is a lot more emphasis on collections of plants and plant varieties. There is a whole terraced hillside with variety after variety of aloe. I remember thinking as I walked down the terraced path admiring the view- this woman was really nuts about aloe. And the garden is divided into different areas that have different styles, some less impressive than others. (I seem to recall there was even a Japanese garden area with some sad little maples not agreeing with the warm climate.)

The garden with it's wide variety of atypical plants for a Mediterranean Italian garden was  thought a representation of the impression I got of Ischia itself and how much people there seem to be into plants and gardens, more so than the average Italian.  Along the roads going from town to town around the island we seemed to pass a nursery every ten minutes. While we were visiting there was a plant show that the owner of our pension was going on about, how we had to go and check out the orchids, because they were going to be amazing. He was really excited about it.

Although less impressive than some of the older more famous gardens I have been to in Italy, La Mortella is certainly lovely and well worth the visit. The views, which seem to be an important aspect of any Italian garden, are certainly there in abundance (even though I dont' have any photos of the here). These are some of the areas of the garden that I liked the best.

old olive trees and roses in a typical mediterranean style greet you at the upper entrance.

Nice Mediterranean style plant combination.

Arch in the Mediterranean style garden area.

Pond with a flowering Callistemon on the upper area of the gardens.

The fountain on the lower level- the subject of many postcards.

Iris and roses under the olive trees.

Proteas in the rose garden.

Rose bushes and cascading rosemary under the trees.