Rome: City of Gardens (Webinar + Book)

Rome is—and always has been—a city of gardens. Since ancient times, the Italian city’s green hills, from the imperial Palatine to the rural Janiculum, have been covered with gardens, orchards, and groves.

Rome: City of Gardens invites readers to explore three “golden ages” of Roman horticulture through 24 intriguing outdoor spaces. Featured are the romantic ruins and sculpture of Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli; the splendid water theater of the Villa d’Este; the lush terraces of the Villa Lante and the secluded Belvedere Courtyard and Casino of Pius IV within the Vatican. More contemporary designs include Palazzo Parisi, the family estate of Arabella Lennox-Boyd; La Torrechia Vecchia, a green-and-white garden by Dan Pearson that winds around the ruins of a medieval town; and the reimagining of the Bass Garden and the Villa Aurelia by Laurie Olin, at the American Academy in Rome.

Each garden is showcased with lush, specially commissioned photography, as well as handsome antiquarian prints. Gregory Long’s authoritative text delves into the fascinating stories behind the gardens—romantic tales starring a unique array of artists and architects, Roman emperors and empresses, cardinals, popes, aesthetes and social climbers, aristocrats, and nouveaux riches.

Join Long for an unforgettable grand tour of the region’s alluring outdoor oases.

About the Speaker



GREGORY LONG is president emeritus of the New York Botanical Garden and a consultant on strategic planning for multiple international cultural institutions. A lifelong admirer of Rome, he has been immersed in studying the gardens in and around the city as a visiting scholar at the American Academy in Rome. Long is the author of Historic Houses of the Hudson Valley and Rescue and Revival: The New York Botanical Garden 1989–2018. He is editor of The New York Botanical Garden, a commemorative monograph to celebrate its centennial.