Your journey of salvation begins at ‘The Diana Pavilion’ or ‘Diana’s Doorway’ which was the monumental main entrance by waterway to the Barbarigo estate during the 17th and 18th centuries. Here, there was a landing place for boats coming across the so-called “Valle di Saint Eusebio”, from which the name “Val San Zibio” originates. In that era, the watery marshland extended over several miles, but today only a small pond (called the Paludo) mirroring the elegant pavilion can be seen.
The Diana’s Doorway is beautifully decorated with fountains, low reliefs and statues on top. These statues are dominated by Diana-Luna, the Goddess of hunting and devotee of nature, wild animals as well as to changes and wonder.
Thus, by entering the garden through Diana’s Doorway and passing under “Sileno’s Archway” you begin the allegorical purification, or salvation, path desired by Cardinal Gregorio Barbarigo, as a result of the solemn ‘vow’ made by his Father to God in 1631 for saving the family from the plague.
The allegorical journey begins by walking along the Decumano or Fish Ponds Boulevard, and the first element that you encounter in your purification journey is the fish pond called Diana’s Bath or the Fishery of the Rivers (pictured above). Here, after leaving the impure and stagnant water of the marshland, you allegorically start the passive washing of your soul with the fresh and pure water of the rivers. The two statues lying down towards the end of the fish pond (pictured below) represent the two main rivers of the region, the Bacchiglione and the Brenta.
Statua del Bacchiglione (Statue of the Bacchiglione)
Statua del Brenta (Statue of the Brenta)
Leaving the rivers with their ‘purifying’ water, on a slightly higher shelf, we find the the Rainbow Fountain, where the sun’s rays crossing the mix of water and air make an everlasting rainbow. This first important fountain was not placed here by chance, in fact, it is located between the water of the Fishery of the Rivers and the air of the next fishpond, the Fishery of the Winds…with the sun the rainbow appears!
After passing the Rainbow Fountain, where the sun’s rays crossing the mix of water and air make an everlasting rainbow, we finally reach the element of air, the Fishery of the Winds with Eolo (Aeolus), God or King of the Winds, who holds on his side the beautiful Nymph Deiopeia and dominates over the Grotto of the Winds with the central waterfall. “Dei Venti Eolo signor li scioglie e lega” (“Lord Aeolus loosens and binds the Winds”) announces the couplet at his feet while the Lord of the Winds holds the scepter in his hand which gives him power on his right over Borea (the strong and impetuous Bora – Boreas – wind), suitably chained, and on his left over Zeffiro (Zephyrus, the gentle and graceful wind that takes away bad weather and brings good weather), in full beneficial activity, and on other other winds that peep out from the underlying caves where they are imprisoned. Once again, after the pure water, it is now the fresh and pure air of the winds that carries on your purification.
Grotte dei Venti - Grottos of the Winds
Continuing we arrive at the center of the garden, near the Pila or Conca Fountain (photo above). This red marble fountain has the octagonal shape of an alchemical fons vitae and is appropriately placed in the crucial point of the Garden, where its main axes, namely the Main Boulevard (Viale Centrale) or Cardo and the Water Theater or Decumanus, are intersect at right angles (the axes of the hypothetical Roman city designed by Luigi Bernini). Furthermore, it is equidistant from the four most significant episodes of the Garden itself: Labyrinth and Hermitage or Hermit’s Grotto to the South, Monument to Time and Rabbit Island to the North. La Pila is, therefore, also located on the ideal intersection between the transcendent research represented by the Hermit’s Grotto and the Monument to Time and the immanent one by the Labirynth and the Rabbit Island.
The term Pila, when the electric one did not yet exist, meant accumulation and is applied here in the sense of different waters and paths that accumulate just like the Water Theater (the Decumanus), which ascends from the Portal of Diana, when it perpendicularly intersects the Main Boulevard (the Cardo), coming from the Labyrinth and the Hermit’s Grotto and heading to the Square of the Revelations…or like the waters that descend from the North, West and South of the Valley accumulate here and then flows into the swamp below.
The point where this octagonal fountain is located is also crucial because here the itinerary of perfection, symbolized in the Garden, changes direction. At the Pila lies the cornerstone of a conversion that we must carry out, in a symbolic as well as material sense, to continue the iter perfectionis on which we have started. Active purification begins at the Pila. At this point, even if we are inclined to turn right to hurry along the Main Bolevard towards our destination, the Square of the Revelations which can be glimpsed to the north at the end of the Boulevard, in reality we cannot do so because we are not yet ready. In fact, before continuing quickly to the final goal we must inexorably confront our conscience, facing our doubts and our fears; it is not enough to abandon the ‘sinful’ swamp and passively purify ourselves with the clear water of the rivers and the clear air of the winds, if we want to continue on our path we must actively face our sins. It is the time to face two crucial and basic episodes for our salvationis process: the Labyrinth, symbol of the immanent and difficult research on the path that leads to human progress, and the Hermit’s Grotto, symbol of transcendent research and a stage of meditation on truths acquired in the labyrinthine path (in the photo below the 2 statues to the south and part of the 4 statues near the Fontana della Pila: Argo and Mercury).
Argo
Mercury
To reach these two episodes is not an easy task… it is difficult to turn left onto The Main Boulevard, moving away from the destination, located to the north and which can be seen in the distance from the opposite side on the same boulevard. To help us in this difficult conversion of gear and intentions and to counteract our deceptive material predispositions that would like us to take a shortcut to the goal avoiding the immanent search in the labyrinth and the transcendent search in the Hermitage, we meet two male statues linked to mythology: the fearsome guardian Argo (with the couplet: “and Argo the guardian was of a hundred eyes”) who is depicted leaning against a trunk and intent on dozing while listening to the flute played by the second sinuous statue, the messenger of the Gods Mercury (with the couplet: “and Mercury brought the great message”). In terms of iter salvationis, Argo represents the allegory of our conscience which, like the Most High, can never be deceived; although apparently dormant, this fearsome guardian cannot be deceived…we can deceive our neighbor, but under no circumstances can we deceive ourselves or God. Mercury, for his part, abandoning the deception, fraud and material work that distinguish him to play the flute, tells us that, if we want to continue the iter perfectionis we too must abandon all our habits and material imperfections that characterize us to dedicate ourselves entirely to the search and purification of ourselves and the search for our spirit; to do this we must temporarily turn our backs on the final goal to face the path of the labyrinth in search of the immanent and, then, to move on to meditate in the Hermitage in search of the transcendent. Mercury playing the flute could also symbolize that Valsanzibio is a place of peace and tranquility where both work and deception and fraud are banned…”Here Mercury loses all his fraud”, reads the first verse of the sixth step further on at the Sonnet Staircase. Argo, for his part, relaxes by dozing to the notes of Mercury’s flute, but is ready, if the sound of the flute were to interrupt, to intervene to enforce the peace and serenity of Valsanzibio.
To access the Labyrinth, which, as already mentioned, is a symbol of the difficult path that leads to human progress, as well as a difficult choice (a choice consistent with the impossibility of deceiving one’s conscience, but in contrast with one’s material predispositions ), a laborious search had to be undertaken to find the entrance. In fact, it was necessary to travel along the entire Main Boulevard towards the South up to the Shadow’s Alley and, therefore, find the passage above the ‘Rio della Chiesa’ which leads along the perimeter path which externally surrounds the labyrinth itself (today there is a second, easier and more practical access to the labyrinth from the Main Boulevard made in the 1930s). The access to the Labyrinth was deliberately hidden and difficult to find because it clarifies how the path of Virtue is not undertaken casually and instead it is necessary to look for it in order to undertake it (see also: the labyrinth of centuries-old boxwoods).
Having entered the labyrinth, between the boxwood walls of a long concentric and multi-way path, one proceeds disoriented but pressured by the need to make continuous choices. To find the right path one must avoid the tempting path of vices (the first 6 deadly sins: greed or gluttony, lust or lewdness, avarice, sloth or indolence, wrath or anger, envy) which occupy the second quarter of the maze, with no other way out than the dubious retracing of one’s steps, and the third quarter entirely occupied by the vicious circles which characterize Pride, the seventh deadly sin. But even in this way, many other mistakes can be made which must be avoided or possibly corrected, taking care not to repeat them, in order to reach the goal…the central observatory which one ascends to after having traveled, without errors, the entire centripetal path of the maze. From the point of view thus reached, the right or wrong choices, implied by the numerous crossroads and crossroads of the Labyrinth, appear in their value as specific vices and opposing virtues. The entire journey then acquires the allegorical meaning of a challenge overcome to reach the position capable of revealing the luminous reality that is revealed to those who have managed to escape from the dark maze (see also: the labyrinth of centuries-old boxwoods).
This luminous reality reached at the end of the labyrinthine path and the goal of the immanent search, must be meditated on and understood well by making an important stop at the ‘Romitorio’ or Hermit’s Grotto (photo above) where the immanent reality leaves room for transcendent research, for spiritual research. Labyrinth and Romitorio are topographically opposed and close to better configure similar research although one is carried out in the torment of life and the other in the solitude of the soul.
Now, after having become aware of both the Labyrinth and the Hermitage, we can resume our journey and, skirting the late ‘Goldfish Pool’, which in the 19th century took the place of the Barbarian coat of arms made from small plants and flowers and which has no meaning in the salvationis process that we are carrying out, we return to the center of the garden at the Fontana della Pila. Having finally reached the Pila again, we can head towards the final destination, towards the Villa, definitively losing sight of Diana’s Pavilion and realizing once again how the symbolic message of the Garden does not only concern the evolution of nature, but especially the evolution of the human soul indicated by the Labyrinth and the Hermitage and, as we will see, explored in depth by the Garenna (Rabbit Island) and the Monument to Time and concluded only later.
Fecundity
Salubrity
However, before continuing on our path of purification on the Main Bolevard and north of the Pila’s Fountain, we encounter two other statues, two allegorical female figures (in the photo above the 2 female figures, the 2 statues to the north and part of the 4 statues near the Pila Fountain: Fecundity and ‘Salubrità’, Healthiness). Of the two female figures, one is meticulously characterized as Fecundity by the family of rabbits at her feet, by the nest full of birds that she carefully holds in her hands as well as by the significant mustard crown that encircles her head. The couplet confirms this: “that the Fecundity of the world is mother”. This eloquent statue placed next to the ellipsoidal fishpond that surrounds the Rabbit Island so meticulously anticipates its contents (birds and rabbits!) as to qualify it as ‘Island of Fertility’.
The other female figure, juxtaposed next to the identically ellipsoidal parterre from which the monument to Time rises, is equally meticulously characterized as Healthiness and certainly not in a purely hygienic sense. In fact, the couplet “Those who seek Life find Healthiness”, alluding to spiritual life no less than material life, raises the term ‘Healthiness’ to transcendent meanings. It is not for nothing that at his feet is the Eagle, symbol of dizzying heights, detachments, ineffable purities; while the dove held with the left hand close to the heart, alludes to the candor of feelings. Finally, the image of Zephyr, the wind of spring that renews and purifies, held with the right hand high and close to one’s forehead, indicates the high importance to be assigned to the purity of intentions.
These allegorical depictions of Fecundity and Healthiness introduce two key episodes: the island of Fecundity (Rabbit Island or Garenna) and the Monument to Time. Located symmetrically facing each other and separated only by the Main Boulevard, they too, similarly to the Labyrinth and the Hermitage, underline how simultaneously close and opposite they are, similar and yet substantially different. Furthermore, the Rabbit Island and the Hill of Time have the same ellipsoidal shape to highlight the presence of a primary common element that conditions them both: Time.
The Rabbit Island is a physical representation of how the human body is limited by the boundaries of space and time and is a symbol of the immanent condition of those who, like rabbits, are born, grow and die within the narrow confines of Space and Time . At the same time, this island symbolizes the fertility capable of ensuring the succession of generations, thus overcoming the limits that time imposes on every single living being.
Rabbit Island or Rabbit Maze is one of the only surviving examples found in the few historic gardens that still exist today.
Juxtaposed with the Island, the ‘Monument to Time’ is a symbol of transcendence. The winged Cronos, God of time, represented by a vigorous old man with semi-spread wings, or if we prefer semi-closed ones, is still, with one knee on the ground. “The hour flies with time, and the years flee”…however here he has interrupted his flight and therefore does not keep the inexorable hourglass upright and functioning. Nor has it laid down the immense weight of the past, a mutant polyhedron whose faces reverberate the light of the sun, or the moon, in the most diverse ways. The winged giant with all its posture, tense muscles, open wings and gaze turned west… is undoubtedly ready to fly towards the future, yet it stands still. Explicit symbolism of Time which sometimes suspends its progression in space or of man who can go beyond certain space-time limits when he rises spiritually to the point of transcending. No longer the material limits marked by the hourglass, but the spiritual ones that can be moved beyond the perception of the present and the memory of the past, beyond the boundaries of what we normally accept as visible or known.
Both Rabbit Island and the Time Monument encourage us to reflect on our earthly role in the larger context of space and time.
At this point of our journey, between Immanence and Transcendence, we return to the Main Boulevard to the Deceptions’ Fountain or Fountain of the Water Tricks (games) to continue the journey towards perfection and salvation, but water games and tricks create the allegory of the deception capable to delay it. The Fountain of Deceptions, sculpted in white Carrara marble and attributed to the Bernini workshop, perhaps even to the great Gian Lorenzo, depicts a beautiful putto holding a basket of flowers and fruit on his curly head and represents a final warning on the path to salvation: the need to be vigilant even close to the destination. The putto with the basket of flowers, from which water flows, symbolizes deceptive appearance and hidden envy. Water games punish those who arrogantly sit on the inviting stone seats to enjoy the gushing water of the fountain and believe they have already reached the finish line. Then it will be too late to regret not having understood the phylactery slung over the shoulder of the handsome cherub: “Non sta sempre tra i fior nascosto l’angue” (“The snake is not always hidden among the flowers”). Because evidently it is not only the snake hidden among the flowers that one must fear, but also one’s own pride and arrogance, allegorically depicted by the pins of water coming from whence one least expects them.
Tifeo
Polifemo
Next to the marble and treacherous seats of the Water Tricks and around the Fountain of Deceptions four statues stand and, like those placed around the Fountain of the Pila, two represent male figures who frighten and warn us, while the other two are female figures who reassure and comfort us.
The two male figures are that of a one-eyed giant, Polyphemus, and a defeated titan, Typheus (photo above). Both of these figures are keen to remind us of their inadequacy and to make us aware of our weakness and blindness; perhaps the most dangerous pitfall on our journey, which can present itself at any moment even when we are close to the goal, allegorically represented by the ‘water pins’, is our pride which, nestled within us, pushes us to overestimate ourselves both in easy comparison with those who are less (“Polifemo tra ciechi Argo rassembra” – “Polyphemus among the blind Argo rassembra”) and ignoring our limitations (“Non giunse al ciel Tifeo benché gigante” – “Tifeo, although giant, did not reach heaven”). Only by discouraging all our presumptions and imposing modesty on ourselves, as the foundation of all further progress, can we proceed towards final salvation.
Ope
Flora
Opposite these two statues, and proceeding along the Main Boulevard ever closer to the final destination, we encounter the two female figures of Ope and Flora (photo above). The first, Ope, is the great mother goddess who, in the act of fondling her little baby Jupiter, extends and elevates the message to an Olympian level, announced by the statue of Fertility and concretized by her island. The couplet asserts this: “E ne fu Ope dea de’ dei la madre” (“And Ope was the mother of the gods”), interpreting it as Ope, Goddess of the Gods, was the mother of fertility, or that Ope, the mother of the Gods, was the Goddess. The second, Flora, with the couplet “recando in grembo Flora i colti fiori” (“carrying the picked flowers in Flora’s womb”), is a symbol of spring, of renewal and of those immaterial scents that accompany the spiritual elevation symbolized by the Monument to Time and heralded by Healthiness.
Proceeding towards our destination on the Main Boulevard we pass between two small fountains called the ‘Fontane dei Facchini’ or ‘dei Gobbetti’ before arriving at the Scalea del Sonetto, also known as the Stairway of the Sonnet. Here, still on the subject of dangers, at the foot of the stairs leading to the Square of the Revelations there are two spotted ‘lonze’ (a kind of mythological lions mentioned in Dante’s Divine Comedy). They could block our progress; instead, that of the west obeys the couplet “della fera più fiera è sete fiera” (“of the fiercest beast there is a proud thirst”) while that of the east obeys the couplet ”della sete l’ardor temprano l’acque” (“of thirst the ardor tempers the waters”). In fact, both have their jaws wide open but only to quench their great thirst, that is, to guzzle the water falling from appropriate fountains.
Fontanella della Lonza (Lonza fountain)
However, just as we are about to fearlessly climb the seven steps of the Stairway of the Sonnet (photo above), new dangers reveal themselves in the form of other pins of water which, at least apparently playful, stop us at the foot of the staircase. We will thus have the opportunity to carefully consider the sonnet carved on the seven steps that await us.
At the top of the significant staircase, two marble cherubs welcome us in silence on the Square of Revelations (photo above) in front of the Villa. Here we find ourselves in the octagonal area of ??eight symbolic statues, coming from the original pre-existing garden. The first 4 from left to right represent the Garden’s qualities, the gifts that the garden promises and contains: the Statue of Adonis or Beauty, of Abundance, Delight and Happiness.
Adone (Adonis)
Abundance
Delight
Happiness
Instead, the second 4 under the Villa represent the prerogatives of the lord who lives there: the Statue of Rest, of Virtue or Agriculture, of Power or Genius and of Wisdom or Solitude.
Rest
Virtue or Agriculture
Power or Genius
Wisdom or Solitude
Eight allegories of the prerogatives of the Garden itself and its Lord which surround the Fountain of Ecstasy, of the Mushroom or, indeed, of Revelations, the final destination of the symbolic journey, the allegorical salvation path, and of the human pursuit of perfection.
The Salvation Path
The Salvation Path begins at the Diana Pavilion.
The steps of the Salvation Path are:
I. The Diana Pavilion
II. Diana’s Bath or the Fishery of the Rivers
III. The Fishery of the Winds
IV. The Labyrinth
V. The Hermit’s Grotto
VI. Rabbit Island
VII. The Statue of Time
VIII. The Fountain of Tricks or Water Jokes
IX. The Staircase of the Sonnets
X. The Revelations’ Square with Ecstasy Fountain
The Salvation Path ends at the Revelations’ Square.