A water garden,
and a valley
behind it.
Villa Gamberaia
The water garden at Settignano, twenty minutes above Florence: a balustrade with urns, four long basins of still water, oleander in July, and the Arno valley open behind the whole thing. It is one of the most photographed gardens in Italy, and July 2022 is the day I know it from.
A garden that
photographs
itself, and
the risk in it
Gamberaia is impossible to shoot badly and very easy to shoot predictably. The parterre, the urns, the cypress at the end of the axis — those frames exist already, thousands of times, and adding one more is not a service.
So the pictures worth making here are the ones the garden does not hand you: the terrace before anyone is on it, the walk along the balustrade, the ten minutes when the sun drops behind the hedge and the water goes flat. The parterre is on the page once.
Florence, in general- Where it is
- Settignano, on the ridge north-east of Florence, about twenty minutes from the centre.
- The shape of the day
- The garden is formal and narrow: it works in a line rather than in rooms, so the day moves along the terrace instead of spreading out.
- Best months
- May, June and September. July is what I know it in, and July at midday on an open terrace is a decision you feel.
- What I have shot here
- One wedding, in July 2022.
Everything on this page comes from days I photographed there. For the house’s own rules, capacity and availability, ask the venue.
Thinking about
Villa Gamberaia?