Giardini e rovine di Ninfa

The Garden and Ruins of Ninfa occupy the remains of a medieval town in the valley below Sermoneta. Churches, towers and houses stand among the river, trees and flowering plants of a garden begun by the Caetani family in 1921.

Why it matters

Ninfa brings together the history of an abandoned settlement and the later creation of a landscape garden. The town was destroyed in 1382 during the Western Schism and was never rebuilt. In the twentieth century the Caetani family reclaimed the site and planted a garden among its ruins. The area is now protected as a Natural Monument and managed by the Fondazione Roffredo Caetani.

What to notice

The remains include five churches, among them Santa Maria Maggiore, where Pope Alexander III was crowned in 1159, as well as towers, walls and houses. The river Ninfa runs through the site, near springs and seventeenth-century fountains. Plantings include Japanese maples, roses, cypresses, holm oaks and Citrus Cajetani. Wildlife and the river's native trout form part of the landscape, while the wider Caetani estate includes an oasis where 152 bird species have been recorded.

Context and history

The settlement grew from the late eighth century on lands associated with Pope Zachary. The Caetani acquired it in 1297, but warfare in 1382 and malaria later emptied the surrounding plain. In the nineteenth century, historian Ferdinand Gregorovius called Ninfa the “Pompeii of the Middle Ages.” Garden-making began in 1921 under Gelasio Caetani, with the guidance of his mother Ada Wilbraham. The work continued through Roffredo Caetani and his wife Marguerite Chapin. Their daughter Lelia established the foundation in 1972 to preserve the estate.