Beyond the Yalla Dog

10.10.11

A garden tour around Lucca with Dr Katie Campbell , author of Paradise of Exiles – Anglo American Gardens of Florence.

 Our tour began at the Villa Reale in Marlia – a noble residence where no expense was spared when it came to redecoration – and never more so than in 1805 when Napoleon’s sister Elisa Baciocchi took up residence in her role of Sovereign of Lucca – and all Tuscany!

The Villa Reale would be large enough for most families but Elisa wanted to add the nearby Villa Orsetti and the Summer Palaces and it’s stables to her home. Elisa had the old Orsetti Palace and its loggia remodelled in Empire style before her brother fell out of favour and her tenure ended.

The Villa Reale with it's sweep of landscaped lawn

The Reale name of the Villa was added when the Villa’s ownership came to King Victor Emmanuel II after the unification of Italy. Romantically, the King gave it to Prince Charles of Capua who had lost his inheritance because he married for love -

 to a non noble British lady called Penelope Smyth of Ballynatray.- an event which caused a huge scandal in its day.

A romantic sunburst over Katie, Francis and Patricia

Unfortunately the son of this union developed a religious obsession -and by the time of his death his debts necessitated the sale of the family home – fortunately to Count and Countess Pecci- Blunt who were able to prevent the break up and destruction of the gardens and the park and replant the beautiful grounds and Italian gardens.

Amongst the famous visitors to this royal Palace were the violinist Paganini and American painter John Singer Sargent who did these sublime watercolours of the gardens.