Giardino di Fontanabona

The Castle of Fontanabona can be reached by going along a romantic, winding avenue bordered by tall trees and bushes. At the beginning of the avenue, alongside a large agricultural building, stands a rare, centuries-old thuja tree. It is admired for its uncommonly large dimensions, its characteristic bell shape and its large, knotty roots which emerge powerfully from the earth. Along the avenue that climbs to the castle there are oak trees, a number of chestnut, plane, pine, and fir trees with several 18th-century statues situated here and there. Even the plateau to the north has been formed into a park with green lawns and tall-standing trees.

At the top of the hill at the entrance of the estate there is a pergola of wisteria which leads to a garden consisting mainly of a green lawn; a small road cuts through the garden leading to the entrance of the villa. Branching off this road, a path takes you to an old reservoir framed by two crape myrtles; another leads to the chapel dedicated to Saints Filippo and Giacomo, where on the first of May every year a special mass open to the public is held. Next to the chapel stand a lofty cypress tree, a group of hornbeams and a grand araucaria tree. A graceful, lonely magnolia tree marks the site where a Medieval tower once stood.