
In the northern section of the Lazio region, lies the village of Bomarzo and its wondrous Parco dei Monstri. Accessible chiefly by car, the park is 60 miles north of Rome.
Parco dei Monstri was built between 1572-74 by Pier Francesco Orsini, known as Vicino Orsini. Orsini called the park his “boschetto” or little wood. It was most likely created by Pirro Ligorio, a prominent architect and garden designer who also designed the Villa D’Este in Tivoli, near Rome. Very little is known, however, about the sculptors themselves. The figures are carved from tufo, the volcanic rock that blankets this section of Lazio. A soft stone, tufo is easy to sculpt and rough-hewn in appearance. The scale is, well, monstrous and the figures loom in mute poses of victory, agony or imperious reverie. Now mossy and softened with age, many still bear traces of their original paint. Dragons snarl, Neptune reclines and nymphs beckon in this garden of unearthly sites. (more…)