VISIT THE GARDEN “LA FOCE”

VISIT THE GARDEN “LA FOCE”

Il giardino, vincitore del Premio Grandi Giardini Italiani 2012, venne interamente realizzato tra il 1924 e il 1939 dall’architetto inglese Cecil Pinsent, che aveva già lavorato a lungo per Bernard Berenson a Villa I Tatti a Firenze, su richiesta dei proprietari della tenuta La Foce, i Marchesi Antonio e Iris Origo. Il bellissimo giardino, considerato un capolavoro per il più alto livello di manutenzione, buon governo e cura, è visitabile tutti i mercoledì, e si trova a soli 10 minuti da La Bruciata.

A visit to the gardens of La Foce will afford you many pleasures, its manicured Italian gardens framing a beautiful view enjoyed from the terrace of the Garden of Lemons.  From here you can admire the beautiful Val d’Orcia, the country roads lined with cypresses, and the clay gullies and disctinctive terrrain abutting Mount Amiata.

The guide, who will accompany you during the visit, will tell you about the fascinating history of this lovely place. The Anglo-American writer Iris Origo came to Florence as a child with her mother, who bought the beautiful Villa Medici in order to enjoy the cosmopolitan atmosphere that enveloped the city.  Years later, Iris married and moved to one of the poorest provinces of Siena.

In 1924, the Marquis Antonio and Iris Origo bought the farm La Foce, with 1400 acres of land, which was used as a hostel for pilgrims traveling to Rome along the Via Francigena.  It was a region characterized by poverty and hardship of life among the arid and clay soils of  the Val d’Orcia.

Within a few years, the Marquis Origo undertook a major rennovation of this land by improving the plight of local farmers even in time of war, making the land arable, restoring the houses of his sharecroppers, creating kindergartens and clinics for those who worked there and for children with tuberculosis. Soon the hostel became a beautiful villa with a large garden designed by the architect Pinsent with many box hedges and laurel, lemons, roses, wisteria, fountains and travertine benches.

A visit to the gardens of La Foce will be an opportunity to learn about the history of our territory’s farmers, born and raised in the Val d’Orcia in perfect harmony with nature—a dynamic and vital landscape characterized by a different color palate in every season.  It 2004 La Foce was recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.