studio@vincenzonardi.com
https://www.vincenzonardi.com
Italy - 00393394284421, London - 004407455607107
Vincenzo Nardi
Italian garden designer and landscape architect who aims to create wonderful gardens all around the world
Biography:
BSc and Masters Degree in Landscape Architecture; Masters Degree in Curator of gardens, garden, park and botanical garden; BSc and Masters Degree in Biological Sciences.
I started my career in the Ministry of the Environment where I dealt with the implementation of United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in the Mediterranean Country.
I have loved plants since I was a child and my earliest garden memories are while taking care of a beautiful Boston Ivy (Partenocissus tricuspidata) that grew on the balcony of my family house in Rome.
My life changed after discovering a book by the legendary garden designer Gertrude Jekyll. A great passion was born, so much that I decided to retrain as a landscape architect.
Soon after I was appointed Garden Supervisor at Villa Lante in Bagnaia, Italy where I worked for 4 years.
At the end of this experience I started a herbaceous perennials and ornamental grasses nursery near Rome . My aim was to develop and spread a deeper knowledge of these plants. By working with them it gave me invaluable hands on knowledge. At the same time I started to offer a full garden design service.
After many garden trips to England I became fully aware of the great garden tradition of this country. In September 2017 I moved to England to study at the London College of Garden Design where I graduated last July.
In my design I create places, I create emotions that are continually renewed every day, every season.
I love to combine formal aesthetics of classical Italian gardens with harmony of the English naturalistic planting style.
Every outdoor space, be it large or small, has its own peculiarity and I want to make it unique so that you can find in it delight, refuge and serenity.
The owner of a terracotta pots retail business requested the redevelopment of the two courtyards of the former farm where the vases are displayed.
The place is beautiful and has great potential: in the planning I tried to combine the atmosphere of the old English farms with that existing in the potters’ courtyards of Grottaglie (Italy).
The whole project revolves around a central pool from which Cor-Ten steel structures are detached along a spiral path. The structures sometimes act as seats, sometimes as container for plants and sometimes as display for the pots.
To increase the Mediterranean atmosphere I recommended olive trees and Lavander plants.
The paving is made up of Trentino porphyry setts arranged in a fan pattern.
Sissinghurst Castle Garden, defined as “a refuge dedicated to beauty” by National Trust, attracts more and more visitors each year but its historic size does not allow the simultaneous presence of such a number of people; moreover, visitors enjoy to use lawns and the meadow of the orchard to rest and eat creating inconvenient of too much traffic foot and overcrowding. In my design I suggest to allow people exploring new areas adjacent to the main garden offering something compelling and interesting that will inspire them and allow the proper amount of people to enjoy the garden. In detail I propose:
1. to restore the old entrance walk formed by a double row of poplars: In my planting design I reduce gradually the distance between poplars to create the illusion the castle is farther away and to increase the sense of expectation of visitors.
2. to reintroduce cows in the plain opposite the castle entrance to give the area the rural atmosphere of Vita and Harold time.
3. to design a picnic area
4. to design a vegetable garden according to aesthetic standards without affecting the production required by the restaurant of the property
5. to design a romantic orchard near the vegetable garden
6. to improve the circulation through the property and the connection to and from adjacent areas
The client’s brief indicated a garden as extension of the house. A place to welcome friends and enjoy al fresco dining but also to relax after a day at work.
In order to achieve the goal, the whole area has been subdivided into three terraces separated by changes of levels.
The garden is separated from the neighbours on both side by a cor-ten steel fence arranged to form a double grid.
The other sides are separated by a shuttered concrete wall.
I designed three pools of water to give a quiet and natural vivacity to the whole garden. to emphasize the sound of the water I channeled it through a series of small copper pipes.
Each terrace has its own different purpose. The closest one to the house is for entertaining. The second one is suitable for midday or evening meal. The third terrace, more enclosed, backed by walls, trees and fences, is the ideal place for reading and relaxation.
The project was a private garden (about 3,500 sqm) near Monte Soratte.
The client’s brief was to design a birch grove, a Mediterranean garden, a vegetable garden, a rose garden and some perennial borders.
The soil of the garden is shallow with tufa outcropping banks.
The climate is hot in summer, windy and cold in winter.
The vegetable and rose garden were designed with geometric patterns reminiscent of those present in Mondrian’s paintings much loved by the customer.
The mixed borders’design was based on an oval-shaped raised flowerbeds.
