Guided tour in Villa Lante – Bagnaia

Villa Lante in Bagnaia, a fraction of Viterbo, is one of the most famous Mannerist Italian gardens of the sixteenth century.

In 2011 it was voted “Most beautiful park in Italy”.

In 2014 a silver commemorative coin is dedicated to Villa Lante, with a nominal value of 5 euro and inserted in series “Villas and gardens of Italy”.
Despite the lack of contemporary documentation, its conception is attributed to Jacopo Barozzi, known as Vignola.

For those who visit Villa Lante after Palazzo Farnese in Caprarola, the difference will be evident between the two Vignola villas, although erected in the same area, around the same time and in the same architectural style: the similarities between the two monuments are few.

Construction began in 1511, but was completed around 1566, commissioned by Cardinal Gianfrancesco Gambara.

The gardens are Villa Lante main attraction, especially the water games, from waterfalls to fountains to dripping grottoes.

Villa Lante garden is an enchanted place created and wanted by a powerful Cardinal in the name of the supremacy of man over nature.

Closed in a geometrical labyrinth designed by the architect Jacopo Barozzi known as Vignola, Villa Lante was built in the second half of the sixteenth century by the will of Cardinal Gambara, backing onto a forest already hunting reserve.
The Villa is longitudinally crossed by a stream that flows up from the rock and follows the slope of the ground by exploiting height differences and linking with terraces and fountains, down to Mori fountain.

How to visit Villa Lante Bagnaia: opening hours & tickets

Opening hours:
from Tuesday to Saturday from 8.30 to 16.30 (last admission at 16.00)
Sundays and public holidays from 8.30 to 17.30 (last admission at 17.00)
Ticket: entrance € 5,00/person