Villa Carlotta....The Gardens

It seems like we toured many different villas while we were in the Lake Como area of Italy last year but this one stands out as my favorite.  The gardens were huge and beautifully manicured and the inside of the villa contained exceptional art and beautiful furnishings.  For today's post I'm going to concentrate on the gardens which we toured before entering the villa.

You can see one fountain in the first photo but, there were several others leading up to where the garden paths began.  One of those fountains was home to a large cluster of turtles.  I couldn't resist photographing the two who looked like they were sharing an intimate moment.

The paths were marked along the way and they led to several different garden areas.  One of the first was the cactus garden.  It was full of plants that are very familiar to me and it almost seemed strange to see them thriving in such a lush environment.

The next area was a section carefully landscaped and planted with a variety of flowering plants.  It was a patchwork quilt of pretty blooms in all shades.

But, my favorite stop was a place called the Valley of the Ferns.  This picture just doesn't seem to do it justice.  You almost need to be able to stand there and listen to all the birds singing and water in the stream trickling down the narrow canyon.  It was like how I would imagine a rainforest sounding with all kinds of bird calls and the rustling of leaves.  I stayed in this spot for quite a long time enjoying the peaceful sounds of nature.

Well manicured bushes and lawns created many photographic scenes.  

At different places we could view more sculpted gardens on different levels.

And, little patches of flowers seemed to pop up in all kinds of unexpected places.

As we got ready to tour the inside of the villa, we had an opportunity to look down on that fountain at the front of the villa.  It was just as pretty from above as from below.

Next week I'll take you on a tour of the inside of the villa.  It was impressive from the moment we walked through the doors.