A last full day in Genoa - or, more precisely, not in Genoa, but forty minutes down the railway track, at Pegli, or, more precisely again, at the amazing Parco di Villa Durazzo Pallavicini, which was the true C19th highlight of my stay here. Inexplicably, there were very few other people visiting. It was built between 1840-46 and designed by the architect and set designer Michele Canzio - who constructed the 2.5 km. trail as a Prologue and Three Acts. So you start off, like Dante, in a Dark Wood, and emerge onto a classical way, after which you supposedly Return to Nature (the winding path takes you through what's actually a superlative collection of camellias, among other things), before emerging at a Castle, symbolizing the return to the past/history.
There's some kind of Masonic subtext running through some of the decoration, too, which probably explains some of the designs in the Castello (I'm leaving out images of shrines, and a little chapel, and so on - there is a lot to all of this fantasy ...)
After heading down the hill again (and in 85 degree heat, it was quite a climb up), you come to Grottos - constructed completely artificially - signifying Hell, and you could go through them in a boat, being ferried across the Charon,
before emerging at the Lake, with lots of neoclasscism
and Orientalism of all kinds,
and, behind a rather grandiose potting shed,
and pavillion, the Garden of Flora (full of, yes, flowers, with an obelisk at the far end).
up the hill the other side, an Indian temple,
and one can look down on the lake,
and there's a huge complex rose pergola being restored. It must have been even more spectacular before the autostrada, and the view of the municipal sewage works - but as it is, it's completely remarkable, and I've only scratched the surface of the experience, here.
Pegli itself was hot, and you can see the thunderclouds gathering - a huge storm broke over Genoa this evening -
but what I really loved about Pegli were all the stamped metal doors to houses: I've never seen anything quite like them.
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