THE HISTORY OF THE “VIALE VISTA NUOVA”

by Elena Zappa

At the beginning of the XX century the area of the vista nuova was a slope leading from the cypress avenue down to the Roman road, crossed by various paths and characterised by Australian plants. On the plan of A.Voigt (1914) one sees this as the Australian wood with many examples of Eucalyptus and other Australian species catalogued.
Daniel Hanbury (Mazzino p98) introduced the cultivation of these Eucalyptus because of his interest in their chemical and pharmaceutical qualities, as well as being considered useful forestry plants because they are fast growing.
Penzig (1883) describes the adjacent space between the avenue and the cypresses, as a wood of tropical vegetation almost exclusively from New Holland (Australia), with examples of casuarina, Acacia, Proteaceae and Myrtaceae, characteristic of Australian scrub.
Following the death of Thomas Hanbury the wood must have returned to its original diversity as noted by Dorothy (p. XLV11).
The area called the viale or avenue was created at the beginning of 1920 when Dorothy and Cecil returned to La Mortola and began to reorganise the garden .In her catalogue of 1938 she outlined the principal plans for the avenue which she called, “the long glade”. It was to be a straight path cutting through the Australian forest. On both sides were wide borders of huge blue Echium fastuosum “looking as if the sky had accidentally dropped its mantle of deep hot blue” she wrote. Behind these was a row of large double white almond trees, which flowered in February. Huge old olive jars were placed at intervals, bought in Pigna in 1923.
The avenue begins at the dragon fountain surrounded by papyrus and continues down to the Roman road. Photographs (from around 1920) show the avenue with the echiums and a border of Lavandula dentata under them; in 1926 the almonds were planted, later replaced by Prunus powlardii (as seen in pictures of around 1930). according to legend, Prunus powlardii were in full flower in February.
By 1938 we can see from other photos that there were ageratum and almonds.
The list of 1968 ( compiled by Grazi) shows that in the latter years roses were introduced: Rosa x anemonoides was planted by Dorothy level with the olive jars in the centre, also Rosa “General Schablikine” in the lower part.
The existing almonds, with white single flowers, are very large and therefore probably the originals. One can still see where they were pruned years ago to encourage the branches to overhang the path. There are no existing examples of Prunus powlardii Prunus x amygdalopersica ‘Pollardii’ (with a pink flower) still living.
Old records and pictures of the avenue are scarce, it is therefore difficult to be precise about the plants and really only possible to get an outline of the main design.
The dominating bright colours drew the eye towards the white marble stature of the slave behind the dragon fountain.
The cypresses were placed in pairs level with the steps. The bench at the bottom of the avenue leads the eye again up towards the slave. These and the sea below are two important points of reference. The length is marked by the succession of olive jars and the continuity of the borders.

Comparisons of available information

When one compares the list of Voigt (1914) to that of 2004, one sees from the plan of the avenue that year that some examples were still there in 2004 in particular a large Melaleuca preissiana in the upper section. There is also a Ceratonia siliqua and a Eucalyptus citriodora on the perimeter. On the edge of the lower area there remains an example of Tristania conferta and a Magnolia grandiflora.
From the list of plants growing in 1968, and from Dorothy Hanbury’s notes of 1938,
one can reconstruct how the avenue has changed in respect to the original planting.
The comparison of these lists shows that most of the plants introduced in the last 30 years do not correspond to the original project and are not in harmony with the Australian forest. We know that some are self seeded and were then never cleared.

The Restoration of the avenue

The plan for this project is to return it to its original state, introducing new specimens of almond trees and Echium fastuosum with a border of Lavandula dentate. A path as steep and straight as this one poses problems for containing the water flow. We have installed a network of pipes to overcome this.
The architectural element such as the stone, fountains, steps, walls and edges are all being restored. We have already begun to analyse and improve the soil and vegetation.
During the summer of 2004 we catalogued all the plants that were growing in the area noting their position, their place of origin and needs. Some plants were not worth retaining, some were moved for health reasons, or for the safety of the public or of the building works.
A few plants were not included in Dorothy’s original project but we have decided to keep them because of their age, their rarity and because they are unique to this garden.

We had to remove many old tree stumps, and the next fundamental aspect was to decide on the best groundcover plants for the slopes on the upper and middle sections of the avenue, to prevent weeds and soil erosion. We need to improve on what is already there such as the Enchilena tormentosa, from Australia, either side of the steps.
This spring we planted some young almond trees in the upper part. The next planting will begin in the autumn. We hope to complete all the work by the beginning of 2006.