hortus conclusus

15 and 22 september 2019 – sundays for villas, palazzos and castles

on sunday 15 and sunday 22 september the owners of 13 private historic dwellings in bergamo and its surrounding area will open the doors of their dwellings to visitors and will enable them to discover secret and fascinating places rich in history and works of art. visitors will be able to revisit, together with the owners, not only the historical-artistic beauties of interiors and gardens, but also mementos of important events and curiosities associated with these environments that are rarely accessible.

the opening in september, the continuation of the second edition of the event begun in spring, has as its specific aim the highlighting of themes associated with nature and the landscape and takes place as part of the event “landscape festival 2019 – the masters of landscape”. most of the dwellings in fact have splendid courtyards and gardens of very varied types: it is possible to come across magnificent examples of italian-style gardens, english-style parks, hanging gardens, vegetable gardens, roccoli… every corner of greenery has its own peculiarities and curiosities; much is due to the architects of the past, “pioneers” of the current landscapes, who dictated their features and development, and even more to the owners, who fondly took care of them, shaped and enhanced them, attempting to make them unique and giving them character with rare plants and flowers, secret corners and architectural elements. also to be found are “jokes of nature” such as the holly that grows on a branch of the cedar from the himalayas in villa pesenti agliardi or the monumental liriodendron tulipifera in villa vitalba, which each year is covered with spectacular yellow “tulips”, and enchanted places such as the small grotto in villa grismondi finardi or the meditation tower in palazzo moroni.

visits to the dwellings will be held at 2.30pm, 4pm and 5.30pm.
admission fee.
the whole programme at: dimorestorichebergamo.it

13, 14, 15, 21 and 22 september 2019 “hortus conclusus – the garden in the oriental carpets of the fondazione tassara”

on the same days, three of these historic bergamo dwellings – palazzo agliardi, palazzo moroni and palazzo terzi – will entertain the exhibition “hortus conclusus – the garden in the oriental carpets of the fondazione tassara”, promoted by fondazione tassara and coming about from an idea by giovanni valagussa in collaboration with the galleria moshe tabibnia of milan.

in 2014 the fondazione tassara, which has been working for ten years now to support culture and training between the valle camonica and province of brescia, received as a donation from romain zaleski the most complete and important private collection of carpets in existence, consisting of 1,325 carpets from the 15^th to the 19^th century coming from three continents. a small yet significant part of the collection was presented for the first time in the exhibition serenissime trame at ca d’oro in venice in 2017.

now a new and also limited and refined selection will be exhibited during the landscape festival 2019 – the masters of landscape. the “sultan’s gardens”, created with their ingenious knots, challenge us to recognize among the bright colours the exotic animals, birds and plants that, spread around the major oriental palaces or becoming treasures through gifts from the east to the west, entered european residences, evoking not only the “sacred ground” of prayer but also the luxuriant and secluded green spaces of oriental cities. a unique opportunity, given the extreme rarity with which this artistic and cultural heritage is made available to the public.

it will be fascinating to rediscover these refined works of art that were part of the furnishings of dwellings in the west as early as the end of the 13^th century, positioned here in the historic palazzos that once hosted them. the gardens, stylized and transfigured in the patterns of the carpets, thus become an investigation of memory, with their meaning as a place that is secluded, idealized, circumscribed and perfect for remaining in meditation: ‘fragments of landscape that are an ‘opportunity for regeneration’, as focus 2019 – pioneer landscape underlines, delicate and the result of age-old thought that inside the historic palazzos traces a continuous red thread, a mirror in idealized form of the real gardens outside the dwellings.

the exhibition will be enhanced by three opportunities for in-depth investigation: on 13 september at 9pm in palazzo moroni, journalist beba marsano and giovanni valagussa will chat on the subject of “the garden of paradise” (paid guided visit at 7.30pm); on 14 september at 6.30pm in villa del tasso, curator giovanni valagussa will give a lecture on “carpets and paintings: a long common history”, which will be followed by a short concert (paid guided visit at 5pm); finally, on 21 september at 6.30pm in palazzo terzi there will be a conversation between giovanni valagussa and president of arketipos maurizio vegini on “geometry and imagination: how a carpet is born” (paid guided visit at 5pm) with the screening of the story-in-painting “a turk in venice”, written and directed by wladimir zaleski (original music by pierangelo taboni). admission to the lectures is free.