‘Restauro Critico’ of historic gardens and landscapes. Examplified by the garden of Ninfa in Italy

Giardino di Ninfa, or Garden of Ninfa, is an English-style landscape garden located about 50 km southeast of Rome. It used to be an ancient medieval city which collapsed into ruins after 1382. In the mid-19th century, German historian Ferdi- nand Gregorovius acclaimed Ninfa as ‘Pompeii of the Middle Ages’. After the 20th century, the Cae- tani family gradually transformed the ruins of the city into a landscape garden, combining the garden plants with wreckages of the castle, the city wall, the churches and other urban constructions. Under the effective management and protection, the garden is still thriving today. Based on the theory of ‘restauro critico’ (critical restoration), the Italian heritage conservation academia combined in-depth field studies with the special requirements in conserving historic gardens and landscapes. This article starts with an introduction of the theories and thoughts on Italian historic garden restoration. It then focuses on the case of Garden of Ninfa, pointing out the signif- icance of the theory and practice of restauro critico when applied to historic garden conservation. In the end, the article illustrates multiple aspects such as the requisitions of historicity and aesthetics in garden heritage conservation, the symbiotic status between built heritage and vegetal elements in the garden, and the sense of sublime aroused by ruins and vegetations.