The gardens and estate of La Foce constitute one of the most important and best kept early twentieth-century gardens in Italy.
Amid 3,500 acres of farmland in the countryside near Pienza, with sweeping views of the Tuscan landscape, La Foce was the childhood dream garden of the late writer Marchesa Iris Origo. Passionate about the order and symmetry of Florentine gardens, Origo and her husband, Antonio,purchased the dilapidated villa in 1924, soliciting the help of English architect and family friend Cecil Pinsent to reawaken the natural magic of the property. Pinsent designed the structure of simple, elegant, box-edged beds and green enclosures that give shape to the Origos' shrubs, perennials, and vines, and created a garden of soaring cypress walks, native cyclamen, lawns, and wildflower meadows. It is, by all accounts, a remarkable achievement.
Today the garden is a place of unusual and striking beauty, a green oasis in the barren Siena countryside. Situated in the Val d'Orcia, a wide valley in southeastern Tuscany that seems to exist on a larger, wilder scale than the rest of the Tuscan landscape, it is run by Benedetta and Donata Origo, and is open to the public one day a week, Wednesday.
Other gardens by Cecil Pinsent:
I Tatti in Settignano
Villa Le Balze in Fiesole
The estate is also the subject of a new book in 2002 called La Foce : A Garden and Landscape in Tuscany edited by their daughter Benedetta Origo.
La Foce Music Festival:
July 18-27, 2003
The estate now hosts Incontri in Terra di Siena, a series of musical concerts. It continues for eight days and nights. Performances are followed by a candlelight dinner in the gardens.
lafoce@ftbcc.it for ticket information.
You may want to try the landscape architect, Laurie Olin.
Olin Partnership
Public Ledger Building Suite 1123
150 South Independence Mall West
Philadelphia, PA 19106
p.215.440.0030
f.215.440.0041
http://www.olinpartnership.com/
Also, see her book "La Foce" published in collaboration with University of Pennsylvania Press.
We would be very interested in contacting someone who could give a formal lecture in Oxford on the garden work of Cecil Pinsent
I just read about your wonderful garden, and will be in the neighborhood next week. Is it possible for 4-6 people to visit one day between October 10-14? Is it still a good season to see the garden?
WE saw I Tatti this summer, and hope to see another garden designed by Pinsent.
Sincerely,
Mimi Le Bourgeois
Swarthmore, PA USA
please could you send me details of your music festival
I would like to get your information on your Music festival end of July.Could you please email your program and how I could get tickets etc. With thanks I.Ratibor