Hidden inside a former convent founded in 985 and recently restored, the garden, with a direct entrance also from the public library Guanda, is actually what remains of the old convent kitchen garden and orchard where food and medicinal herbs were grown for the monastic community.
In the 19th century, when it was transformed into a playground for a girls school, a fountain, a grotto, a vast berceaux and a short train circuit, no longer visible, were set up.
The annexed Mother Superior's apartments, know as Chamber of St Paul, were frescoed by Correggio in order to look like an open-work berceaux with allegorical figures; other rooms as well as the Cell of St. Catherine at the bottom of the park were decorated by Alessandro Araldi.
Are you a local? What do you think about Gardens of St. Paul?
Login to suggest it!