Travel 500 Years Back in Time – The Mystifying Park of the Monsters, Italy

If you plan on visiting Italy, most likely Rome is on your top visiting locations. But just 60 miles from the first ever metropolis of the world, lies an enchanted place, less known by tourists: The Park Of Monsters (Parco dei Monstri).

The park came to life in 1552 and it’s the only kind in the world. But the garden of these “monsters” remained neglected throughout the 19th century to almost the end of the 20th century. Until the 1970s, a program of garden restoration was underway. To date, Bomarzo has become a major tourist attraction.

In 16th century Italy, the nobility often left behind generations proof of their greatness through the religious art form. But Pier Francesco Orsini wanted to be famous in a completely different way. He wanted his wonder to impress by delighting visitors with awe-inspiring surprise with the monsters.

This garden is called Bomarzo, in the province of Viterbo (Lazio, Italy), in the lower Tiber valley, 68km from Rome. It was part of the forest near the bottom of the valley where the Orsini family castle was built. For him, the garden was a place of retreat after a period of life in the instability and stress of society at that time.

More than 25 works of art will unfold their strange mythological shapes and scary looks. Huge mysterious ornaments, a leaning house (built like this deliberately, unlike the Tower Of Pisa), and many bizarre creatures will give you a ride of your life.

The garden was left ignored and turned into an abandoned garden from the late 19th century until almost the end of the 20th century. A program of garden restoration was in place up to the 1970s. Bomarzo is currently a well-known tourist destination.

The sculptures in the garden are placed at different angles in no particular order, in order to increase the curiosity of visitors who love to explore. Visitors will not be able to see what images make them wonder behind the hidden corners. Some of the works are carved directly on large rocks, making viewers sometimes startled.

Pier Francesco Orsini, also known as Vicino (1528-1588), was a mercenary who lived during the Italian Renaissance. He spent his life remembering his wife.

After the passing of his wife, he became severely depressed and dedicated himself to building the garden with the help of Pirro Lugorio, a well-known architect of the time. The sculptures of monsters in the garden are extremely diverse, including the gods Pegasus, Poseidon and Proteus…

These monster statues do not seem to have a connection with each other in the period of mythology or fit the space around where they are located.

Perhaps because Vicino was so saddened by the untimely death of his wife, Vicino decided to build this strange-looking park. However, after hundreds of years, researchers have not been able to solve the real mystery behind it.