The splendid stately home overlooking the Golfo dei Poeti is one of the FAI properties currently under restoration, the project for which FAI UK is raising funds this year. It is one of the most challenging sites in 2024 on which our team of architects in the Restoration and Conservation Office has been working for months.

In order for a project to be realised as it has been designed and imagined, with the utmost care and attention to detail, it is essential to follow its execution on site step by step. This is even more true for a very onerous and demanding project such as the environmental and landscape restoration of the Villa Rezzola Gardens, financed also thanks to NRP (European Union) funds and which will keep the team of architects of the Restoration and Conservation Office engaged throughout 2024. 

But, actually, what does it mean to run a construction site? 

FAI construction sites are located all over Italy, sometimes in locations that are difficult to reach. Fortunately, Lerici is still within reach of FAI’s architects, who leave on weekday mornings at 6 am from Milan to be on site at 10 am. The companies are already at work, and there are many activities to be seen and checked together with the site manager and consultants, located in different areas of the Villa’s park. 

The first intervention on which we focus is of a structural nature: the flight of stairs that climbs up to the surrounding walls in the square in front of the Villa. A staircase that historical investigations have led to the belief that it most likely led to an access from the state road, which is now closed. There were many discussions here, between the construction manager, the contractor and the structural engineer. 

In FAI’s restorations, we always try to intervene in the least invasive way possible, maintaining as much historical material as possible, using local natural materials and traditional historical techniques, but in this case, we had no alternative but to build a concrete support structure, the safest, which guarantees the necessary stability for the portion of historical stone masonry to which it will be placed. Above the structure, we are restoring and reconstructing, where missing, the decorative concrete balustrades. A different type of material, historical, also known as ‘artificial stone’, which spread throughout Europe towards the end of the 19th century and which we find in many parts of the gardens. The pillars were in very poor condition, both on this staircase and along many of the paths and terraces that wind through the park. Approximately 1,200 pillars are gradually being restored: where they are beyond repair, they will be replaced, identical to the originals and with similar materials.

Water 

Water is a key element in this project. A large part of the inspection is dedicated to assessing the work to be carried out to improve drainage, along the stairs and along the paths. Together with the contractor, slopes, paths, inclinations are assessed, and an attempt is made to understand the best solutions to achieve the desired result: the restoration of the splendid risseu paving, the typical black and white cobblestones of Liguria, which cover many of the park’s stairs, must be accompanied by an evaluation of how to incline each individual step, which must be disassembled and repositioned according to the correct inclination. There is no shortage of surprises: while cleaning up one of the steps, under a thick layer of earth a month ago we found a splendid risseu decoration depicting a lion, adding to the others already found in the gardens. 

But water at Villa Rezzola also means fountains, grottoes, basins, even a pond. In the garden, water once flowed as a background to walks in the shade of the trees and alongside the flower-lined paths. Today, due to climate change, the availability of water has significantly decreased, which is why, together with the engineer and the geologist, we are evaluating the possibility of restoring the connection between two large existing reservoirs, under the staircase in the wooded area. 

The English garden

Parallel to the architectural work, work on the green areas must be controlled. In these early stages of the construction site, major work has been carried out to clear away branches and shrubs that have grown spontaneously and uncontrolled over the past decades of neglect. Work has been completed on the long wisteria arbour, which, thanks to the pruning work and the restoration of the support structure, will soon be blooming again. For the new plantings, we will have to wait until the autumn; at present, efforts are concentrated on preparing the land and the areas that will have to accommodate the new rose garden, the aromatic plants, the citrus trees, the new formal hedges, and the flowering. 

The greenhouse and the return to Milan

Before leaving to return to Milan, we pause in the greenhouse area, where the photovoltaic system will be installed on the existing roofing. Together with the technicians, the first assessments are carried out on how the structure is to be restored and recovered so that it can withstand the load of the solar panels, thanks to which the energy required to power the park’s lighting will be guaranteed. A part of the project that, back in the office the next day, will have to be studied in depth and carefully, again with the help of experts who know how to interpret the need to make the paths usable in the evening but at the same time leave a natural and sober atmosphere. 

We need your help: Help FAI breathe new life into the Gardens of Villa Rezzola, contribute to their restoration with a donation.