Discovering Lazio: Park of Monsters (Bomarzo)

Few sites are more representative of the time when they were built than Bomarzo's Parco dei Mostri, in the province of Viterbo, built by Vinicio Orsini in memory of his deceased wife. He hired the architects Pirro Ligorio and Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola to place "impossible" constructions, monsters, and mythological beasts within the park. This was the sixteenth century; influences from alchemy were quite strong, and it was during the rich, creative era of the Renaissance.

A variety of inscriptions aims to astound and confuse visitors, rather than guide them. The symbols mix and overlap. Over time, many scholars have attempted, with no little frustration, to understand their logic. Enigmas are hidden everywhere. There's a tilted house. There are highly mysterious statues.

Quotations may be from works by Ariosto and Petrarch. Technique and virtuosity dominate the entire monumental complex in a Mannerism brilliantly summarized by the inscription on a pillar that reads: Sol per sfogare il core ("just to set the heart free"). The park has been an inspiration to artists of different sensitivities – and to Salvador Dalí above all.

The Park was restored in the second half of the twentieth century by the couple Giancarlo and Tina Severi Bettini, who were buried in the park's small temple – perhaps also the tomb of Giulia Farnese

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