We suggest a completely green itinerary to
enable you to relax, breathe in clean, fresh air and enjoy the enchantment of
the changing seasons.
There are the Royal Gardens overlooking St
Mark’s Basin, one of the city's most central green areas. They date back to the
nineteenth century, when Napoleon decided to transform the Marciana Area in
order to build a new Royal Palace. Today, after major restoration work, the
gardens have been returned to their original, magnificent design.
You can find the Biennale Gardens, also
known as the Napoleonic Gardens, in the International Art Exhibition area. The
park was created in 1807 over the ruins of a series of demolished churches. In
the late nineteenth century, the over 65,000 square-metre garden was divided
into two parts, one open to the public, the other granted to the Biennale
Cultural Organisation, which used it to construct the Palazzo delle
Esposizioni.
The most romantic park lies in the Santa Croce
district: the Papadopoli Gardens along the Rio Tolentini. The gardens
were first created in 1834 by Count Spiridione Papadopoli and his wife Teresa
Mosconi. Unfortunately, the gardens were bombed during the First World War and
were further reduced in size by the construction of Piazzale Roma in the
thirties. Today, the park has a dense tree cover of evergreens.
The Savorgnan Park was originally a
botanical garden, created by joining the ancient gardens of the Savorgnan and
Manfrin palaces in the Cannaregio district in the late seventeenth century.
Today, it is one of the city’s largest public parks.