The ancient Garden Garden of the Redeemer in Venice opens to the public

Following major restoration and conservation by the Venice Gardens Foundation, the ancient Garden Garden of the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer in Venice opened its doors to the public yesterday. Promoted by an initiative oriented to the values of knowledge, responsibility, sustainability and self-sufficiency, this precious historic site becomes open to visitors and offers an experience that fully respects Capuchin principles and the idea of a responsible future. In Venetia Hortus Redemptoris, a project desired by Adele Re Rebaudengo and implemented by her foundation, aims to conserve, restore and manage the Compendium that includes the Garden with the Kitchen Garden, the Meditation Chapel, the Ancient Workshops and the Greenhouse of the Convent of the Most Holy Redeemer in Venice.

The project is a tribute to the tradition of convent gardens, reflecting a commitment to a conscious tomorrow. The Redeemer Garden Garden Compendium extends from the Giudecca Canal to the Lagoon and presents a symbolic and spiritual environment. Designed by architect Andrea Palladio, the complex was donated to the Capuchins as a sign of gratitude after the plague of 1575-1577. Badly affected by the November 2019 acqua granda, which reached 187 centimeters devastating the city, it was entrusted to the Venice Gardens Foundation in 2021 by the Provincial Curia of Capuchin Friars Minor, with approval from the Holy See and the Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio, to ensure its recovery and protection.

The implementation of the international project relied on funding from NextGenerationEU in the amount of 2 million euros (PNRR - Ministry of Culture), the Superintendence of Venice and the Lagoon, and generous patrons, including the Venice Foundation, Friends of Venice, Generali, Intesa Sanpaolo, The Venice International Foundation and other donors. Thanks to the leadership of Adele Re Rebaudengo, President of the Foundation, the opening of the Compendium will be celebrated tomorrow with a public event. Thereafter, the Garden will be accessible Thursday through Saturday, starting October 31, and will be continuously maintained by the foundation itself. Visitors will explore a fascinating place, with paths shaded by chestnut arbors and adorned with climbing roses, wisteria and bignonias. Among century-old cypress trees, paths and trails border olive groves, orchards and cultivations of Mediterranean herbs and flowers, aromatic and medicinal, reminiscent of the ancient Garden of Simples. In the center, the Water Lily Pool represents the heart of the Garden, while the Pittosporum Garden, a secluded corner overlooking the Lagoon, offers a perfect vantage point for watching the sunset.

The itinerary also includes the Meditation Chapel, the Antiche Officine restored by architect Alessandra Raso with new energy-efficient facilities. Exhibitions in harmony with the soul of the garden will be held here. The Workshops will welcome oil and honey production with the Oil Mill and the Honey Removal Room, while the Café, on the Lagoon front and managed by illycaffè, will offer visitors products grown in the garden. Experimental activities for experienced gardeners will be held in the Greenhouse, built in the last century. The Venice Gardens Foundation maintains the Royal Gardens and the Garden Garden through an integrated approach of ancient and modern knowledge, always with the goal of respecting and preserving the ecosystem. Organic farming techniques, water conservation, recycling and on-site composting ensure soil fertility. Over time, the Foundation will organize cultural events of international significance, including concerts, plays and botanical studies, which will offer the public an intimate and deep immersion in the history and charm of the place. Among the first works in the exhibition, Remo Salvadori ’s L’Alveare welcomes visitors with its poetics on the harmonious work of bees, while the Antiche Officine hosts a video by Lucia Veronesi on the restoration of the Orto Giardino, flanked by Guido Guidi and Francesco Neri’s shots of the rebirth of the Compendium.

Statements

“It is a great joy and a great honor for Venice Gardens Foundation to be able to inaugurate today the Garden Garden Garden, with the Ancient Workshops, of the Convent of the Most Holy Redeemer,” declares President Adele Re Rebaudengo, “a place of rare beauty and admirable accord between spirit and nature, a historic, symbolic place, a high expression of Capuchin spirituality. Thanks to the active commitment and a solid commonality of intentions and values among all the actors involved, professionals, institutions and patrons, the restoration and regeneration, in line with the principles of knowledge, responsibility, sustainability and self-sufficiency, of a botanical and architectural heritage of absolute historical and cultural value not only for the city of Venice but for the whole world, have been possible. For more than ten years, our Foundation has been committed in the city of Venice to the restoration and conservation of parks and gardens as well as to the recognition of the founding role that these assets can play in a social and community context: a commitment aimed at reconstructing the transcendent relationship intimately related to nature, because of affinity, harmony and respect. A great feast, the one we are celebrating today,” Adele Re Rebaudengo continues, “which marks the opening after five centuries of this extraordinary place in which it is still possible to ”feel deep down“ and rediscover the joy of ”simplicity and listening to nature. Over time, the Compendium will host works expressing the vision of sensitive artists, protagonists of the world of art and culture of international importance. I would like to express special thanks to the Provincial Curia of the Capuchin Friars Minor, the Holy See and the Superintendence for the trust they have placed in the Foundation as well as to the Supporters and Patrons who with their generous support have made possible the realization of this project by creating an alliance with the garden as a source of life and creativity, fertile ground where to restore the foundations capable of restoring nature to its deep meaning, to the professionals and companies that carried out the restoration, and finally, a heartfelt and profound thank you to the entire Foundation team that has supported me over the years with passion and dedication, in observance of those principles of care and love for what one undertakes."

“In the Order’s constructions, the Garden Garden has always been considered a valuable asset to which great care and fruitful work should be devoted, both for the productive aspects and for meditation and prayer,” says Paolo Pejrone, architect in charge of the botanical restoration by Venice Gardens Foundation. “For centuries it also represented an indispensable source of sustenance for community life, consisting of orchards (pomaria), herbaria (herbaria), and wooded areas, referable to the forest indicated in the first Capuchin constitutions. If, in fact, the Orchards even before the restoration were already lived in and loved, over time their overall texture had become looser and looser, and the first objective that animated the project was precisely to find a general structure that would make them cohesive, harmonious and as simple as possible in harmony with the Capuchin spirit. Each choice sought to respond to concrete needs with the most direct, natural and immediate approach. Thus restored and entrusted to the care of the Foundation and its qualified gardeners, the Compendium is now a place of frugal and balanced beauty, rich in botanical details and lush atmospheres, but free of complacency and rhetoric.”

The ancient Garden Garden of the Redeemer in Venice opens to the public

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