Giardino Giusti

Giardino Giusti is a sixteenth-century palace and garden complex in Verona, where terraces climb a hillside above the city. Renaissance order meets wooded paths, rocky outcrops, and views across Verona.

The Giusti family transformed former wool-working buildings into a Mannerist palace and formal gardens, first planted in 1580. Two wings surround rooms with eighteenth-century ceilings and frescoes. Nine box-edged parterres hold mythological statues, while a cypress avenue leads toward a grotto and rock-cut grotesque mask. French parterres, fountains, citrus trees, and a hedge maze extend the design. The lower garden follows symmetry, while upper paths create sudden changes in shade and perspective.

A tower conceals a winding staircase to the upper garden, and a pavilion rests on thirteenth-century columns. Roman inscriptions and archaeological fragments recall Agostino Giusti’s antiquarian interests. Storm damage has affected the trees, while restoration preserves the historic layout beside a twelfth-century city wall. The Goethe cypress, once more than six centuries old, was destroyed by a storm.