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I believe that a really good way to understand a culture
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is through its gardens.
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This is an extraordinary journey
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to visit 80 inspiring gardens from all over the world.
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Some are very well known, like the Taj Mahal or the Alhambra.
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And I'm also challenging my idea of what a garden actually is.
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So I'm visiting gardens that float on the Amazon,
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a strange fantasy in the jungle,
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As well as the private homes of great designers,
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and the desert flowering in a garden.
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And wherever I go, I shall be meeting people
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that share my own passion for gardens,
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on my epic quest to see the world
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through 80 of its most fascinating and beautiful gardens.
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This week, on my journey to explore the world through its gardens,
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I'm visiting the place where, for us in Britain at least, it all began.
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This is where East met West, Christianity met Islam,
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and where Moorish and European design collided -
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the Mediterranean.
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This is the cradle of western civilisation,
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and certainly where the most enduring influences
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on all our modern gardens have evolved.
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My journey begins with the gardens of the Italian Renaissance,
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and of the Roman Empire that inspired it.
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Crossing the Mediterranean, I will visit Islamic gardens in Morocco,
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before going north over the straits of Gibraltar
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to Spain, where these two great cultures co-existed
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and where I will visit one of the truly great gardens of the world.
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From its beginnings, 750 years before the birth of Christ,
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the city of Rome grew to control a vast empire
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which dominated the whole of the Mediterranean region,
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not to say the rest of Europe, until the fifth century AD.
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But my first two gardens are to be found
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in the nearby resort of Tivoli.
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Tivoli is just an hour's drive outside Rome
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and a day's journey by horse.
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And since classical times, this is where those wealthy enough to do so
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have chosen to have their holiday homes.
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This is where they retreated from the hustle and bustle of Rome.
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The climate's much kinder - the air is very sweet
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and also, it has an exceptionally good water supply.
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And that water is harnessed to stunning effect
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in my first garden -
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the Renaissance masterpiece of the Villa d'Este.
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This may seem like an insignificant side street,
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but it is in fact the main road from Rome,
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and the garden was designed to be visited
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starting from here, the bottom.
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The modern visitor isn't allowed to come through here
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but we've got permission, so I'll take you through.
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The first thing that you notice when you come in is the sound of water,
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and that is a distinct clue of what's to come.
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But in general, this entrance doesn't give much away.
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It's beautiful, it's quite grand, but it is deliberately understated.
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However, there is this big axis running down,
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with a dramatic fountain at the end.
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Turn aside from this central path
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and you will see one of the great water features...
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and another. Water is the main theme of Villa D'Este,
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and it is everywhere in the garden.
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The garden was built in the 16th century as a summer palace
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for Cardinal Ippolito d'Este,
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and its eight acres are the most perfect example
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of a High Renaissance garden.
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In order to really understand this High Renaissance garden,
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you need to go back to a book published in 1485
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by a man called Alberti, called The Books of Architecture.
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It did two things.
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One, it explained the rules of Roman and Greek design,
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which was so influential.
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And two, it made this statement -
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"Everything that nature produces is regulated by the law of harmony,
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"and her chief concern is that everything should be perfect."
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Now, this was incredibly liberating, because instead of seeing nature
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as a hostile force that you had to protect yourself against,
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you could embrace it, and use that harmony and that balance
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as an expression, and that is revealed in this garden everywhere.
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And above all, it allows that one element
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that you see in this garden, which is control.
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Ippolito d'Este, the son of Lucrezia Borgia
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and a bishop from the age of two,
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was one of the wealthiest and most ambitious men of his age.
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Between 1550 and 1565, Pirro Ligorio, the papal architect,
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was hired to design and oversee the construction of his gardens.
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Ligorio plundered the ruins of nearby Hadrian's Villa,
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and employed the best artists and craftsmen that money could buy.
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The garden was and is a combination of allegory,
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learning, history and design,
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and was intended to impress every visitor with its magnificence.
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The Fountains of Tivoli are probably the most important in the garden,
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because it's where the water comes in,
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and immediately it's harnessed to create jets and sprays
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and fountains. It's played with.
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The nymphaeum was a watery grotto,
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and a feature borrowed directly from Roman gardens.
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Originally, visitors could walk behind this cascade
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eas a kind of a watery game.
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This is very ornate, but it is very slippery,
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so I can see why the public isn't allowed in.
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But it is extraordinary to feel the power of the water falling.
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The people watching us filming can have no idea
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of the intensity and power of this water
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that's coursing through the veins of this garden.
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The garden is an extraordinary feat of hydraulic pyrotechnics,
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and I asked the garden's technical assistant how it all worked.
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Does it need pumps to make it work, or is it...how is it fed?
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TRANSLATION: There are no pumps in this garden,
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as every fountain is gravity-fed.
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They all function at the same time,
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and the water flows at about 500 litres per second.
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This hydraulic system is still the original one,
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and although some repairs have been made in the past,
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every single part is faithful to the original.
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'The hundreds of water features are all fed by the local river,
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'and controlled by 300 sluice gates.
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'Francisco shows me how this wheel can turn off the enormous fountain
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'of the organ on the lower terrace.'
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- OK.
- Ready.
- Is it stiff?
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Coming off? Right. OK.
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It takes almost four minutes for the water to clear
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from the tallest spouts...
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and just as long to get it going again.
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While most of the fountains were intended to impress,
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one was designed as a Renaissance joke.
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The Fountain of the Owl soaks onlookers
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when they inadvertently tread upon a hidden button on the ground.
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This is the Walk of a Hundred Fountains,
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and it's made out of three canals tiered on top of each other,
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running along a 130 metre terrace.
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This is not just a horticultural masterpiece.
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It is also intended to represent the canal
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that flows from Tivoli to Rome,
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a direct metaphor for the Cardinal's intense ambition
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for the papal throne at Rome.
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And I think it's one of the loveliest things
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that I've ever seen in a garden, anywhere in the world.
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The Renaissance drew its inspiration
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from the Rome of over 1,000 years earlier,
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the Rome of the classical era.
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Indeed, many of Villa d'Este's statues
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were looted from nearby Roman sites.
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The visitor finally arrives at the top of the garden,
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a little weary, and certainly overcome
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with the splendour and the power expressed through this garden.
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You then turn to look over it,
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and what you see is not just the garden,
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but the landscape stretching as far as the eye can see,
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and you realise the man that has made this
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has control over the whole lot.
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This garden is all about power.
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But it's worth remembering that the man who made it, Cardinal d'Este,
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never attained the power that he craved.
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He never became Pope.
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But what he did do was leave a legacy through his garden
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that has endured for centuries.
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My next garden is only a mile or two away down the hillside,
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although to get to it, I have to go back 1,500 years in time.
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Villa Adriana, or Hadrian's Villa,
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was built in the beginning of the second century
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by the Emperor Hadrian,
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when the Roman Empire was at its absolute peak,
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and above all, it's an expression of imperial power.
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It's also a marvellous example of classical design that's gone on
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to influence gardens and buildings, right to the present day.
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Hadrian ruled as emperor for 21 years, from 117 to 138 AD.
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His power and wealth were unmatchable.
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On a personal level, he was learned, and patronised all the arts.
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He built libraries, aqueducts, baths and theatres,
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and is said to have had an active role in designing this villa.
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More than half his reign was spent outside Italy,
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travelling through the empire.
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He visited Britain and initiated the building of Hadrian's Wall.
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Influences from these travels, especially from Egypt
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and the cult of the god Serapis, are found running through the site.
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However, there is no doubt
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that it looks more like an archaeological site than a garden.
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The visitor sees the bare bones of the garden,
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and broken bones at that.
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I confess that I'm having trouble grasping the enormity of the site.
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It's apparently over 280 acres big.
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And not all of it has been excavated,
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but what there is is just massive.
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It's wrong, really, to think of it as a villa. It's a summer palace,
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built by the richest and most powerful man in the world,
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at the head of the largest empire that the world had ever seen.
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And Hadrian drew on all the immense practicality and expertise
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that made the Roman Empire so remorselessly efficient
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when he made the palace.
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A complicated hydraulic system was set up to create this serapeum, which was a temple,
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dedicated to the Graeco-Egyptian god of the underworld, Serapis,
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and would have provided a liquid firework display
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which must have resembled the nymphaeum
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which it directly inspired at Villa d'Este.
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Water would gush out of the sides and swirl around the diners' feet,
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and then, best of all, another curtain would fall
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in front of these columns.
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Now, this incredibly sophisticated use of hydro-engineering
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set a pattern that the Arabs picked up on 500 years later,
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and Renaissance gardens used 1,500 years later.
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But none of them ever surpassed it in technique or mastery.
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Another common feature which the Romans adopted from the Greeks
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was the peristyle garden, which featured a building
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wrapping itself around an inner courtyard, usually with a pool in the centre,
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and a covered, colonnaded walkway around that.
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The Pecali at Hadrian's Villa was originally just such a garden.
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Although this area was based upon the Athenian market place
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where people could stroll and chat,
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it actually was designed as an exercise yard.
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All round it was this enormous high wall, which was covered over,
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and then there were columns, marked by the bay trees.
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In the 18th century, they discovered an inscription
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which said it was exactly 429 metres around.
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Multiplied by seven gave you two Roman miles,
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which was the perfect amount of exercise,
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as decreed by Roman doctors.
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So you get an insight into the Roman mind.
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Amidst the splendour of the palace is this ruthless practicality.
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With its integration of interior and exterior spaces,
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architecture, the use of water,
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and of classical mythology and symbolism in buildings and statues,
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Hadrian's villa provided a model for Renaissance gardens
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that drew heavily upon ancient Rome for its sources and influences.
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But after the fall of the Roman Empire,
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Villa Adriana was left to crumble
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as Europe descended into the Dark Ages,
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and it was plundered down the centuries
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for its statues and stones.
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But even though it's a ruin now, there is a lingering essence
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that transforms it into an unlikely, but truly magical garden.
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Before I leave Tivoli and its two huge, magnificent gardens,
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I've noticed what look like allotments
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at the bottom of the hill.
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I can't resist a quick detour to visit them.
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'This is Elio Bernarelli, who has been gardening on this plot
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'at the foot of the Tivoli waterfall for 25 years,
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'and it's where he grows all his fruit and veg.
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'Elio grows everything organically,
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'and it all looks lustrously appetising.'
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There are grapes and poultry on his plot too,
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and since my Italian is limited to ordering a cappucino,
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we communicate through the language of vegetables.
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- Aubergine.
- Si.
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And what sort of tomato is that?
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- Un pantano.
- Un pantano.
- Pantano.
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- And this?
- Sanmanzano.
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Sanmanzano. I grow sanmanzano too.
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But mine are smaller, much smaller. Oh, well!
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- Verza.
- See, that is superb.
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- Parsley.
- Prezzemolo.
- We say "parsley." Say "parsley."
250
00:16:46,160 --> 00:16:49,120
- Parsley.
- Parsley. There you are, you see, you're a star.
251
00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:55,640
TRANSLATION: We manage to grow almost everything we need for the family.
252
00:16:55,640 --> 00:17:01,400
Instead of going to the pub, I prefer to come here for fun.
253
00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:03,800
When I'm here, I feel like a king.
254
00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:10,680
Elio's vineyard is about three quarters of an acre,
255
00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:12,920
and it's planted with two types of grapes,
256
00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:15,240
one of which I'd never seen before.
257
00:17:15,520 --> 00:17:18,600
TRANSLATION: These are pizzutello grapes,
258
00:17:18,600 --> 00:17:21,360
that were brought here by Villa d'Este
259
00:17:21,360 --> 00:17:27,560
as an ornamental plant. And it's good to eat as well.
260
00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:33,400
Elio also grows grapes for wine making.
261
00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:36,240
From a single row, he can produce enough fruit
262
00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:39,480
to make up to 500 litres of home-made wine.
263
00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:42,760
He was very keen for me to try some of last year's vintage
264
00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:45,280
with some of his friends, back at his shed.
265
00:17:46,880 --> 00:17:49,640
- Chin chin...
- Salute!
266
00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:56,760
'As the sun set, we ate local cheese,
267
00:17:56,760 --> 00:18:00,040
'and tomatoes still warm from the sun that ripened them,
268
00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:03,600
'all washed down with lots of Elio's wine.'
269
00:18:03,600 --> 00:18:05,160
Fantastic!
270
00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:11,840
No emperor or cardinal ever feasted better.
271
00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:22,240
The next day, I drive on up to Bagnaia,
272
00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:25,880
an impossibly picturesque medieval town north of Rome.
273
00:18:25,880 --> 00:18:29,520
On a bright summer's day, the streets are flawlessly beautiful,
274
00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:33,000
and decked with carefully tended flowers.
275
00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:36,080
Although it's tempting to spend the day mooching about,
276
00:18:36,080 --> 00:18:40,320
I am visiting for a specific reason.
277
00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:43,880
I'm here in Bagnaia, for my next garden.
278
00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:46,840
Not just because it is exquisitely beautiful
279
00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:50,040
and worth the trip to Italy just to see this alone,
280
00:18:50,040 --> 00:18:56,040
but also because for me, this is the perfect Renaissance garden.
281
00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:04,680
During the Italian Renaissance,
282
00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:07,680
a beautiful country villa was not just a retreat,
283
00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:10,560
but also a potent expression of status.
284
00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:13,560
And like Villa d'Este, this garden was created
285
00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:15,960
by an ambitious cardinal, Cardinal Gambara,
286
00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:20,880
who was granted the villa in 1560 by Pope Pius V.
287
00:19:20,880 --> 00:19:25,320
Gambara then commissioned one of the great architects of the 16th century,
288
00:19:25,320 --> 00:19:29,400
Giacomo Vignola, to redesign his summer retreat.
289
00:19:29,400 --> 00:19:32,840
Nowadays, we often rather glibly refer to a "Renaissance Man",
290
00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:34,520
but Vignola was the real thing,
291
00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:37,480
and could just as readily carve a marble statue
292
00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:40,360
as draw up the plans for a building or a garden.
293
00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:48,040
As you come in, you are met with the very dramatic Fountain of Pegasus,
294
00:19:48,040 --> 00:19:50,640
and this sets the tone for the whole of the garden.
295
00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:53,080
You've got massive use of stonework,
296
00:19:53,080 --> 00:19:56,120
really playful, inventive handling of water.
297
00:19:56,120 --> 00:19:59,840
It's set in a woodland background. And there's one other crucial thing
298
00:19:59,840 --> 00:20:02,800
that runs right through the rest of the garden,
299
00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:05,120
and that's the classical allegory.
300
00:20:05,120 --> 00:20:08,520
Pegasus, the winged horse, comes down to the ground.
301
00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:13,080
And where its hoof touches the rock, there is a spark of creativity.
302
00:20:18,960 --> 00:20:22,000
Heading up the hill, you go through a wooded parkland,
303
00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:24,160
where the public can stroll and play.
304
00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:27,600
This is the Bosco, an area that represents wild nature,
305
00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:29,560
albeit still carefully controlled.
306
00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:31,600
Many scholars believe that the Bosco
307
00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:34,040
was a direct influence and predecessor
308
00:20:34,040 --> 00:20:37,800
of the English landscape movement, 200 years later.
309
00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:44,000
From the Fountain of Pegasus, the path takes you up through the wood
310
00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:48,360
to the top of the garden, and it's important to see the garden
311
00:20:48,360 --> 00:20:51,520
from the top, working down. It's a journey.
312
00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:58,320
The combination of classical building,
313
00:20:58,320 --> 00:21:01,440
a loggia with its columns and woodland,
314
00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:05,040
is not so strange if you consider the Renaissance mind,
315
00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:08,040
where it absorbs the wild, natural world
316
00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:11,320
into philosophy and art, and design and literature,
317
00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:13,320
and feels that it can control it.
318
00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:16,840
It can rationalise it into something safe and beautiful.
319
00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:18,760
If you think of Britain at that time,
320
00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:21,480
when Shakespeare wrote A Midsummer Night's Dream,
321
00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:25,880
the wood is dangerous and magical, and potentially really scary.
322
00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:29,920
But here, you go from woodland and using classical imagery,
323
00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:31,920
and make a garden.
324
00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:38,440
Fantastic.
325
00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:43,120
This is the Fountain of the Deluge.
326
00:21:43,120 --> 00:21:48,680
And it refers both to rain, which is the source of all water,
327
00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:51,640
and also the Flood, in the Bible.
328
00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:56,560
And the water itself just looks stunning.
329
00:21:58,080 --> 00:22:01,040
The design is organised along a central axis,
330
00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:03,880
which is emphasised by the fountains and water courses
331
00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:05,520
arranged in perfect symmetry.
332
00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:08,240
And the garden only has one route down.
333
00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:10,760
Follow the water.
334
00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:14,240
Flowing down the middle of a flight of steps is the Water Chain,
335
00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:18,760
a cascade that runs down in a series of swirling stone arabesques
336
00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:23,440
before it tumbles out over a massive carved head of a crayfish,
337
00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:26,440
the emblem of Cardinal Gambara.
338
00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:31,400
The water then pours into the large basin of the Fountain of Giants,
339
00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:34,120
where two huge stone figures recline,
340
00:22:34,120 --> 00:22:37,960
representing the two great rivers of the Tiber and the Arno,
341
00:22:37,960 --> 00:22:40,280
which in turn symbolise the friendship
342
00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:43,680
between the Papacy in Rome and the Medici family in Florence.
343
00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:47,520
And this is a symbolic reference that any educated Renaissance visitor
344
00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:49,400
would have immediately spotted.
345
00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:55,520
'The water then continues, amazingly,
346
00:22:55,520 --> 00:23:00,640
'down the centre of this huge stone table, which is over 50ft long
347
00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:04,120
'and designed specifically for al fresco entertainment.'
348
00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:11,760
This dining table is the most fantastic object here in the whole garden.
349
00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:16,880
Over 50ft long, could have had hundreds of guests here of the Cardinal.
350
00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:20,480
And in the middle of it is this canal,
351
00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:25,480
and it's icy cold. Now this is a hot July afternoon here,
352
00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:28,360
it's a really warm day, and yet it's cool water.
353
00:23:28,360 --> 00:23:32,600
The wine could be kept cool there, dishes would float and keep cool on the water.
354
00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:35,080
And at the feet is another canal running,
355
00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:37,640
and that would give the air coolness and moisture
356
00:23:37,640 --> 00:23:40,520
and you could dibble your toes in there if you so wished.
357
00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:49,160
Finally, the garden arrives at this.
358
00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:54,440
From the wildness of the wood, we have complete formality.
359
00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:58,720
Man is finally in control of nature.
360
00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:10,480
Vignola created an untroubled transition
361
00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:12,240
from the informality of the Bosco
362
00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:16,000
to the perfect geometry of the formal parterre,
363
00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:19,800
which consists of 16 squares of clipped box and yew
364
00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:24,280
with coloured gravel, centred around the final large fountain,
365
00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:25,680
the Fountain of the Moors,
366
00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:28,080
which is in the middle of a large, square pool.
367
00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:32,560
This parterre might seem like many others that can be seen attached
368
00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:34,440
to grand buildings across Europe,
369
00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:36,960
but in fact, it is amongst the first ever made,
370
00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:40,640
and is the balanced, harmonious culmination of the garden,
371
00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:43,680
with the town butting up to the wall at its edge,
372
00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:48,200
ready to receive the water, now that the garden has finished with it.
373
00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:52,200
Villa Lante is a masterpiece, setting the tone for almost all
374
00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:54,840
that has followed in Northern European gardens,
375
00:24:54,840 --> 00:24:57,800
right up to the present day.
376
00:24:57,800 --> 00:25:01,000
But now it's time to leave it and continue my journey.
377
00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:04,800
From Italy, my next destination is Marrakech, in Morocco,
378
00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:08,880
to visit the gardens of another great Mediterranean civilisation
379
00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:11,160
that has also had a fundamental influence
380
00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:13,880
on the way that we still garden in the western world.
381
00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:18,600
In the foothills of the Atlas mountains,
382
00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:21,440
and fully 100 miles from the coast,
383
00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:23,360
Marrakech might seem an odd destination
384
00:25:23,360 --> 00:25:26,120
for an exploration of Mediterranean gardens.
385
00:25:26,120 --> 00:25:30,320
But Islam had a huge influence on the gardens of the rest of Europe,
386
00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:32,440
especially those of Spain.
387
00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:37,520
The city was founded in 1062 by the Almoravid dynasty
388
00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:40,760
that came from the Middle East to conquer the native Berbers.
389
00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:44,280
From its inception, Marrakech was a city of gardens,
390
00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:47,800
and today, on the edge of the modern city, remains an immense orchard
391
00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:51,120
of nearly 1,000 acres, which can reasonably claim
392
00:25:51,120 --> 00:25:55,080
to be one of the oldest intact gardens of the world.
393
00:26:06,800 --> 00:26:10,440
This is the Aguedal, the royal garden here in Marrakech,
394
00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:13,440
and it's one of the main reasons that I've come to Morocco.
395
00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:18,600
It's the oldest untouched Arab garden in the entire world, and it's immense -
396
00:26:18,600 --> 00:26:20,080
a huge garden.
397
00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:23,640
And the gardeners go about their business riding bicycles.
398
00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:27,160
So, I've taken a leaf out of that book, and that's how I'll get about.
399
00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:35,800
I have privileged access to explore the Aguedal,
400
00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:37,800
which is owned by the King of Morocco.
401
00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:41,280
It was created in the 12th century and has hardly changed since.
402
00:26:41,280 --> 00:26:44,960
It is composed of a series of orchards, producing figs,
403
00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:49,320
citrus, dates, pomegranates, almonds, apricots, and olives.
404
00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:52,880
The first thing you see about this garden
405
00:26:52,880 --> 00:26:58,320
is it challenges your whole conception of what a garden is,
406
00:26:58,320 --> 00:27:03,200
when a garden is a farm or a garden is a bit of landscape.
407
00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:06,840
But even that is trying to fit it into a sort of westernised slot.
408
00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:11,200
The fact is, this is a garden, so one has to get used to that idea.
409
00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:14,720
You have to abandon the European concept
410
00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:17,360
of what a garden should or should not be.
411
00:27:17,360 --> 00:27:19,120
Here, function has beauty.
412
00:27:19,120 --> 00:27:23,640
Water has intrinsic beauty, but even more so as it nurtures growth.
413
00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:27,880
Blossom is beautiful in itself, but also as the precursor of fruit.
414
00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:30,400
Everything in the garden has a usefulness
415
00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:34,520
that enhances its aesthetic attraction.
416
00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:37,760
These oranges, which would have been here in some form or other
417
00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:41,960
for 1,000 years - not the same trees but definitely citrus here -
418
00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:45,000
will have flowers that smell fantastic as you pass.
419
00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:47,640
But they'll also be gathered to be used in cooking,
420
00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:51,040
and also preparing your hands to wash before you eat.
421
00:27:51,040 --> 00:27:54,160
So this boundary between what's useful
422
00:27:54,160 --> 00:27:58,200
and what is simply delightful, just doesn't exist.
423
00:27:58,200 --> 00:28:00,080
Whoops!
424
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:04,440
To tell me the story of this garden, I wanted to speak to someone
425
00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:10,120
who is an expert on the gardening culture of Morocco's Islamic past.
426
00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:14,720
TRANSLATION: From Spain to India, from the Alhambra to the Taj Mahal,
427
00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:19,760
this is the oldest unrestored 12th century garden in existence.
428
00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:22,360
Of course, the garden has changed over time -
429
00:28:22,360 --> 00:28:24,600
the trees and vegetation are different.
430
00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:27,960
You can't expect to have eighth or ninth century plants today.
431
00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:33,240
But it is interesting that its style, design and irrigation system are all original.
432
00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:40,320
Around the Aguedal is a beautiful wall of peach-coloured mud
433
00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:43,720
that runs for almost eight miles.
434
00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:47,000
This is typically Islamic in that, although fortified,
435
00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:50,120
it is modest and plain, and doesn't hint
436
00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:53,280
at the richness of fruit and water within.
437
00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:57,320
Ah yes, water - for in the centre of the orchard is a vast expanse
438
00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:01,440
of the most valued element of all Islamic gardens - water.
439
00:29:01,440 --> 00:29:03,800
Mohammed, this is...staggering!
440
00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:06,280
TRANSLATION: The lake has many functions -
441
00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:09,040
primarily, it irrigates the garden's 500 hectares.
442
00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:13,280
Secondly, it provided drinking water for Marrakech in the 12th century.
443
00:29:13,280 --> 00:29:14,960
The water was really clear then.
444
00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:19,720
But it was also used by the ruler's troops, to learn how to swim.
445
00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:24,520
At that time, the Almohad Empire straddled Morocco and Andalusia,
446
00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:28,720
and the soldiers had to cross the Mediterranean Sea to get to Spain,
447
00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:32,280
so it would have been very dangerous not to know how to swim.
448
00:29:34,320 --> 00:29:39,680
The water for it, in this parched desert country,
449
00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:41,960
is bought in via subterranean canals
450
00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:44,800
from the Atlas mountains, 15 miles away.
451
00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:48,280
These canals were made nearly 1,000 years ago,
452
00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:51,440
and still work, unchanged, exactly as built.
453
00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:56,280
I think this is one of the great gardens of the world.
454
00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:59,960
It's partly because it blows apart my conceptions
455
00:29:59,960 --> 00:30:05,200
of what a garden should or could be. And that takes me into the heart
456
00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:08,920
of the Islamic and Arabic view of the world and gardens,
457
00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:12,680
and that's fascinating. Also because the engineering,
458
00:30:12,680 --> 00:30:17,080
the feat of just making it 1,000 years ago, is mind-boggling.
459
00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:22,160
And, after 1,000 years, it's simply just beautiful.
460
00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:36,120
I go back to the centre of Marrakech and to a new hotel,
461
00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:39,360
which is a riad in the heart of the Medina,
462
00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:42,480
the old city of Marrakech. These can be a bit tricky to find,
463
00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:45,480
but many of the riads of the Medina still have a garden.
464
00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:51,440
What's fantastic about Marrakech
465
00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:54,880
is that if your boundaries were really Calais
466
00:30:54,880 --> 00:31:01,520
and a few points south, you're suddenly confronted with real foreignness.
467
00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:08,080
All the faces and the smells and the life on the street
468
00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:10,880
and people making things and fixing them
469
00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:16,520
in a way that is challenging at every turn, and beautiful.
470
00:31:18,080 --> 00:31:21,240
Then the streets get too narrow and my taxi can go no further,
471
00:31:21,240 --> 00:31:24,400
so my luggage and I continue on foot.
472
00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:26,200
I don't know where we're going!
473
00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:31,800
Welcome to Marrakech!
474
00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:50,200
A riad is a traditional Arabic house,
475
00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:53,840
closed off from the street and built round a garden.
476
00:31:53,840 --> 00:31:57,000
Bonjour. Bonjour. Ca va tres bien.
477
00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:03,520
'Today, many in Marrakesh have been converted into boutique hotels.'
478
00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:08,840
A-ha! This is very beautiful. This is lovely.
479
00:32:08,840 --> 00:32:10,720
Yes. It's a small paradise.
480
00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:15,520
It's...it's quite a big paradise! Or at least, paradise big enough.
481
00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:18,560
They're known as the secret gardens of Marrakech,
482
00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:21,920
because they're invariably concealed from the outside gaze
483
00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:23,360
behind modest entrances.
484
00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:26,280
In Islam, any display of opulence or wealth
485
00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:30,280
wouldn't only be arrogant, but might also diminish your neighbour,
486
00:32:30,280 --> 00:32:36,400
so the exteriors are always low-key, and the interiors private.
487
00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:41,160
It's always...shocking is what I was going to say, but it's not unpleasant, it's wonderful.
488
00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:44,280
It's astonishing that you come out of these little streets,
489
00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:48,400
which are thronged with people and noise and strangeness,
490
00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:53,800
into this calm greenness. And listen...
491
00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:55,840
BIRDS CHIRP
492
00:32:55,840 --> 00:32:59,160
You could be in the middle of the English countryside.
493
00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:05,800
Islamic houses are built back to back,
494
00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:08,120
with thick walls and few windows.
495
00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:11,960
This keeps them cool, with the light coming from the cloistered garden,
496
00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:15,600
which is the real focus of the Moroccan domestic life,
497
00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:19,440
where the family gathers, eats, cooks, and of course, grows food.
498
00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:25,720
The courtyards are enclosed,
499
00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:28,920
but the roof provides a private space
500
00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:32,440
with a public view over the Medina.
501
00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:47,240
As the sun sets, the call to prayer echoes round the city.
502
00:33:47,240 --> 00:33:50,800
The baking heat of the day cools, and I go for a walk
503
00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:54,400
out onto the streets, to the Djemaa el Fna,
504
00:33:54,400 --> 00:33:56,400
the city's main square.
505
00:33:56,400 --> 00:33:59,920
Inevitably, tourists like myself are obvious targets for locals
506
00:33:59,920 --> 00:34:01,600
touting their various wares.
507
00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:07,040
A glass of freshly squeezed orange juice is refreshing, nonetheless.
508
00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:10,960
Very good.
509
00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:29,040
Next morning, I'm up and out bright and early.
510
00:34:34,240 --> 00:34:37,080
From when Marrakech was founded in the 11th century,
511
00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:39,280
right up until the 1920s,
512
00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:43,280
two thirds of the Medina was given over to orchards and gardens.
513
00:34:43,280 --> 00:34:46,160
But in 1912, Morocco became a protectorate of France,
514
00:34:46,160 --> 00:34:48,440
and the orchard gardens rapidly declined
515
00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:50,440
as the green spaces were built on.
516
00:34:53,760 --> 00:34:58,280
However, there were new gardens made, and none more famously
517
00:34:58,280 --> 00:35:03,400
than this one, which was created by the painter, Jacques Majorelle.
518
00:35:03,400 --> 00:35:05,560
He came to Morocco in 1917 for his health,
519
00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:08,160
and over the course of the next couple of decades,
520
00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:11,640
made this completely unique garden.
521
00:35:18,160 --> 00:35:21,280
The Majorelle Garden is a relic from the 1920s and '30s,
522
00:35:21,280 --> 00:35:25,920
when the French influence was at its peak in Marrakech.
523
00:35:25,920 --> 00:35:28,280
Wealthy, liberal bohemians came to the city
524
00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:32,960
for its sun, culture and frankly relaxed attitude to sexual behaviour.
525
00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:42,080
Many Europeans settled here and built themselves villas,
526
00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:47,400
often combining local Berber and contemporary European art deco design.
527
00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:52,720
Here at Majorelle, this was not so much a meeting of two cultures,
528
00:35:52,720 --> 00:35:53,760
as a collision.
529
00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:58,000
And out of it was created a work of art unique in Morocco,
530
00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:00,560
and possibly in the whole world.
531
00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:06,360
And it completely revolutionised the way that we think about using colour in gardens.
532
00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:12,080
Majorelle had one extraordinary dramatic idea.
533
00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:16,360
He took this blue, which he found on Moroccan tiles and on Berber houses,
534
00:36:16,360 --> 00:36:19,280
and then applied it in the most dramatic way possible,
535
00:36:19,280 --> 00:36:21,080
so that it dominates the garden.
536
00:36:21,080 --> 00:36:25,280
Everything else, all the planting, is set against this blue backdrop.
537
00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:30,320
And it is for this idea above all
538
00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:33,480
that the Majorelle has a place in garden design history.
539
00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:39,200
Now, this garden is not just an explosion of blue,
540
00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:42,360
it's full of the most extraordinary plants,
541
00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:45,520
combining colours and textures and forms,
542
00:36:45,520 --> 00:36:47,320
that just are riveting.
543
00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:52,560
Especially these extraordinary palms, that just soar up to the sky.
544
00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:56,760
And this is because Majorelle was a fanatical plantsman.
545
00:37:00,240 --> 00:37:06,400
He was an obsessive plant collector, specialising in cacti and succulents and palms,
546
00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:08,520
all of which still dominate the garden.
547
00:37:08,520 --> 00:37:12,160
At one point, the garden covered ten acres
548
00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:15,600
with more than 1,800 varieties of plants,
549
00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:17,920
including 400 varieties of palms.
550
00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:22,200
I confess that the two words "plant" and "collection" usually fill me with dread.
551
00:37:22,200 --> 00:37:24,080
They rarely make good gardens.
552
00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:27,560
But Majorelle is the exception that proves that rule.
553
00:37:27,560 --> 00:37:33,160
When Majorelle died in 1962, the garden was more or less abandoned.
554
00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:38,120
But In 1981, the French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Berge
555
00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:42,320
bought the garden and restored a good chunk of it to its original condition,
556
00:37:42,320 --> 00:37:45,320
to immortalise Majorelle's creation.
557
00:37:45,320 --> 00:37:49,520
This is his masterpiece and he has a painterly eye everywhere.
558
00:37:49,520 --> 00:37:51,160
Nothing's natural.
559
00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:56,640
Every detail is contrived, but it feels exactly right.
560
00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:00,520
It's time to leave Marrakech
561
00:38:00,520 --> 00:38:03,960
and head for my next destination in southern Spain.
562
00:38:05,040 --> 00:38:08,840
Travelling in French colonial style,
563
00:38:08,840 --> 00:38:13,480
I catch a night ride on the Marrakech Express to Tangiers.
564
00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:17,440
It was built in the 1920s, to transport the French Foreign Legion,
565
00:38:17,440 --> 00:38:20,680
but these days, it carries an eclectic mix of travellers.
566
00:38:22,280 --> 00:38:27,600
Six... Right. Cosy.
567
00:38:33,120 --> 00:38:35,880
As I sleep, surprisingly soundly,
568
00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:38,680
the train takes me north to the port of Tangiers,
569
00:38:38,680 --> 00:38:41,480
where I'll cross the Mediterranean to Spain,
570
00:38:41,480 --> 00:38:45,640
heading first to Granada and the fabulous garden of the Alhambra.
571
00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:53,440
By daybreak, we've reached Tangiers,
572
00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:58,400
where I catch the hydrofoil across the straits of Gibraltar
573
00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:00,320
linking Africa and Europe.
574
00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:05,800
At this point, there was supposed to be a shot
575
00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:07,960
where I was to tell you the significance
576
00:39:07,960 --> 00:39:11,160
of this brief 45 minute trip between the two continents.
577
00:39:11,160 --> 00:39:14,000
But the straits are famous for being choppy,
578
00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:16,320
and I'm a landlubber through and through,
579
00:39:16,320 --> 00:39:19,000
and the reality was that I spent most of the trip
580
00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:22,560
with my head over the rail, donating my breakfast to the fishes
581
00:39:22,560 --> 00:39:26,360
and quite unable to do more than stare silently at the horizon.
582
00:39:34,160 --> 00:39:37,160
The Moors, so-called because they came from Mauritania,
583
00:39:37,160 --> 00:39:39,440
the name the Romans gave to modern Morocco,
584
00:39:39,440 --> 00:39:43,960
took the same route that I've just endured and invaded Spain in 711,
585
00:39:43,960 --> 00:39:47,280
and the whole of Spain and modern Portugal was under Muslim rule
586
00:39:47,280 --> 00:39:49,000
by the 10th century.
587
00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:52,600
Islam dominated Spain for nearly 700 years,
588
00:39:52,600 --> 00:39:55,720
which is longer than Christianity has done since.
589
00:39:55,720 --> 00:39:58,360
It was a highly tolerant, civilised society,
590
00:39:58,360 --> 00:40:02,880
where Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities peacefully co-existed
591
00:40:02,880 --> 00:40:06,040
and gardens were an important part of the culture.
592
00:40:06,040 --> 00:40:11,240
I'm here to visit the last great surviving garden of that period, The Alhambra.
593
00:40:15,200 --> 00:40:18,920
This plain, fortified, rather austere gateway
594
00:40:18,920 --> 00:40:22,280
is typical of the Islamic approach to palaces and gardens,
595
00:40:22,280 --> 00:40:24,960
but doesn't even hint at the treasures inside.
596
00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:28,040
The Alhambra is truly one of the great gardens of the world.
597
00:40:28,040 --> 00:40:32,120
It's one I know a little bit - I once spent four days and nights within its walls,
598
00:40:32,120 --> 00:40:34,480
and yet I haven't exhausted its treasures.
599
00:40:34,480 --> 00:40:38,640
You can see - there are thousands, millions of people who visit here every year.
600
00:40:38,640 --> 00:40:42,720
And certainly, if you want to understand how the Islamic mind
601
00:40:42,720 --> 00:40:46,240
has changed the whole way that Europeans garden,
602
00:40:46,240 --> 00:40:48,160
then you have to come here.
603
00:40:59,720 --> 00:41:06,600
The Alhambra is the oldest extant Arabian palace garden in the world.
604
00:41:06,600 --> 00:41:08,600
Rather than one coherent garden,
605
00:41:08,600 --> 00:41:12,400
it is an integrated complex of palace buildings and gardens,
606
00:41:12,400 --> 00:41:15,960
perched on top of 35 acres of hillside.
607
00:41:15,960 --> 00:41:22,080
It was originally built during the Nasrid dynasty by Sultan Mohammed,
608
00:41:22,080 --> 00:41:24,280
who ruled Granada from 1238.
609
00:41:24,280 --> 00:41:26,560
What we now see in the Alhambra
610
00:41:26,560 --> 00:41:30,800
consolidates 600 years of Islamic-European culture.
611
00:41:30,800 --> 00:41:32,600
In traditional Islamic style,
612
00:41:32,600 --> 00:41:35,240
it was intended to be an earthly paradise,
613
00:41:35,240 --> 00:41:40,200
a mirror of heaven, based upon ancient Persian gardening principles
614
00:41:40,200 --> 00:41:42,720
of water, symmetry and enclosed spaces.
615
00:41:50,960 --> 00:41:55,080
Water, either gently moving or in reflective pools,
616
00:41:55,080 --> 00:41:58,280
is always the core of any Islamic garden.
617
00:41:58,280 --> 00:42:02,680
The surface mirrors the perfect poise and symmetry of the buildings
618
00:42:02,680 --> 00:42:06,880
and planting, as well as catching light and throwing it up
619
00:42:06,880 --> 00:42:09,160
into the cool but dark courtyards.
620
00:42:10,800 --> 00:42:14,760
Inside the dark buildings, the ornate richness is staggering.
621
00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:20,200
Outside, the luxury is one of coolness, privacy, light and water.
622
00:42:20,200 --> 00:42:22,320
This is the Court of the Myrtles,
623
00:42:22,320 --> 00:42:25,200
where the only plant is myrtle in long hedges,
624
00:42:25,200 --> 00:42:27,920
cut at the perfect height to brush your hands along
625
00:42:27,920 --> 00:42:32,640
and so be trailed by its deliciously musky scent.
626
00:42:32,640 --> 00:42:39,560
And if you can imagine, from these windows you would have, maybe, tapestries hanging, carpets.
627
00:42:39,560 --> 00:42:43,640
This very clean and simple space would have also had silks
628
00:42:43,640 --> 00:42:47,400
and cushions, and gorgeously dressed people.
629
00:42:47,400 --> 00:42:50,320
And this was a court in the true sense.
630
00:42:51,840 --> 00:42:53,520
The timing of the buildings,
631
00:42:53,520 --> 00:42:57,480
mainly from the middle of the 13th century to the middle of the 14th,
632
00:42:57,480 --> 00:43:00,080
coincides with the development of irrigation,
633
00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:02,360
and are an expression of the way that water,
634
00:43:02,360 --> 00:43:06,120
in this harshly arid region, can be harnessed for pleasure.
635
00:43:06,120 --> 00:43:10,160
The water here, in all its guises, is a display of wealth
636
00:43:10,160 --> 00:43:14,000
that couldn't be more impressive had it been molten gold.
637
00:43:15,520 --> 00:43:18,720
The highest point of the Alhambra is the Generalife,
638
00:43:18,720 --> 00:43:22,080
the summer hunting lodge where the Sultan could escape
639
00:43:22,080 --> 00:43:24,600
the intrigue of court.
640
00:43:24,600 --> 00:43:27,840
This is the Patio of the Canals.
641
00:43:27,840 --> 00:43:30,080
Ironically, the avenue of water spouts,
642
00:43:30,080 --> 00:43:33,160
probably the most famous feature of the entire Alhambra,
643
00:43:33,160 --> 00:43:35,680
is unlikely to be an original Moorish feature,
644
00:43:35,680 --> 00:43:38,000
because it would have been too noisy,
645
00:43:38,000 --> 00:43:43,280
and competed with the gentle music playing for the Sultan's pleasure.
646
00:43:43,280 --> 00:43:47,800
But the water stairway on the steps up to the mosque is original,
647
00:43:47,800 --> 00:43:51,240
and is unchanged since it was built in the 14th century.
648
00:43:51,240 --> 00:43:54,440
The water runs down the banisters along these steps.
649
00:43:54,440 --> 00:43:57,080
Originally, it would have run down the middle too.
650
00:43:57,080 --> 00:44:02,440
And instantly, you're in a sort of cool, slightly damp, green tunnel.
651
00:44:02,440 --> 00:44:05,760
It's lovely. It feels really refreshing after the baking heat.
652
00:44:05,760 --> 00:44:07,880
It actually had a more serious purpose,
653
00:44:07,880 --> 00:44:10,000
because these steps led to the oratory,
654
00:44:10,000 --> 00:44:12,120
and the idea was, you would wash yourself
655
00:44:12,120 --> 00:44:14,720
and prepare yourself before prayer.
656
00:44:14,720 --> 00:44:17,320
And it's so typical that you get this combination
657
00:44:17,320 --> 00:44:21,920
of the sacred and the sensuous, all in a garden.
658
00:44:24,520 --> 00:44:28,240
The whole of Spain was gradually reclaimed
659
00:44:28,240 --> 00:44:31,640
by Christian crusaders, until, in 1492,
660
00:44:31,640 --> 00:44:34,760
the Alhambra was the last Islamic outpost to fall
661
00:44:34,760 --> 00:44:39,200
and the last of the Moorish rulers, Boabdil, was driven out of Spain.
662
00:44:39,200 --> 00:44:42,440
But it survives as a glorious monument
663
00:44:42,440 --> 00:44:47,680
to one of Europe's greatest, and perhaps least appreciated, cultural heritages.
664
00:44:47,680 --> 00:44:51,960
Another Spanish city founded deep in Moorish culture
665
00:44:51,960 --> 00:44:55,000
is Cordoba, 60 miles north of Grenada.
666
00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:56,920
I've timed my visit here
667
00:44:56,920 --> 00:45:00,200
to coincide with the annual festival of patio gardens.
668
00:45:04,000 --> 00:45:07,760
In 1236, Cordoba was recaptured by the Catholics.
669
00:45:07,760 --> 00:45:12,720
The remaining Arab population fled to the Moorish stronghold of Granada,
670
00:45:12,720 --> 00:45:14,400
ruled from the Alhambra.
671
00:45:14,400 --> 00:45:17,400
There are reports from the 10th century Moorish Cordoba
672
00:45:17,400 --> 00:45:19,880
of thousands of gardens in and around the city.
673
00:45:19,880 --> 00:45:24,280
There are still many there today, and the chief feature of them
674
00:45:24,280 --> 00:45:27,600
is that they are patio or courtyard gardens.
675
00:45:34,720 --> 00:45:36,040
For two weeks every May,
676
00:45:36,040 --> 00:45:38,760
the city celebrates the Festival of the Patios,
677
00:45:38,760 --> 00:45:41,880
where hundreds of people open up their homes
678
00:45:41,880 --> 00:45:43,840
to show off their gardens.
679
00:45:43,840 --> 00:45:46,320
The idea is for people to walk around the city,
680
00:45:46,320 --> 00:45:48,320
visiting as many patios as possible.
681
00:45:48,320 --> 00:45:51,240
Houses marked with two cypress trees
682
00:45:51,240 --> 00:45:54,880
indicate that anyone can walk in and take a look.
683
00:45:54,880 --> 00:45:58,080
Some of the patios are small and intimate, others are grand.
684
00:45:58,080 --> 00:46:00,760
All are decked out in floral finery,
685
00:46:00,760 --> 00:46:04,400
with the plants almost entirely in pots.
686
00:46:04,400 --> 00:46:08,200
In the sweltering heat, these need watering at least twice a day,
687
00:46:08,200 --> 00:46:12,160
and every patio has a well that supplies water for the plants,
688
00:46:12,160 --> 00:46:14,200
which is good enough to drink.
689
00:46:14,200 --> 00:46:17,080
That is, if first you can get it in your mouth.
690
00:46:20,280 --> 00:46:23,440
OK...OK.
691
00:46:23,440 --> 00:46:28,720
Now, you know I'm about to put water over most of my front. OK?
692
00:46:31,760 --> 00:46:34,480
WOMAN LAUGHS
693
00:46:34,480 --> 00:46:37,200
Very good!
694
00:46:41,400 --> 00:46:45,080
Classic Cordoba pot.
695
00:46:45,080 --> 00:46:48,400
It's got the flat back. It's fantastic.
696
00:46:48,400 --> 00:46:50,160
Cordoba was an industrial city,
697
00:46:50,160 --> 00:46:53,160
and as people came from the countryside looking for work,
698
00:46:53,160 --> 00:46:56,520
families would occupy a room or two of the large, square buildings
699
00:46:56,520 --> 00:46:59,080
built around courtyards on three or four floors.
700
00:46:59,080 --> 00:47:04,800
The patios became communal living spaces, where people washed, ate and entertained each other.
701
00:47:04,800 --> 00:47:07,720
They also became communal gardens
702
00:47:07,720 --> 00:47:10,080
with a few plants, nearly always in pots.
703
00:47:10,080 --> 00:47:15,040
In the late 20th century, these communal buildings became rarer
704
00:47:15,040 --> 00:47:17,120
as Spain became more affluent,
705
00:47:17,120 --> 00:47:21,440
and more people could afford to live in self-contained homes.
706
00:47:21,440 --> 00:47:23,880
But many still treat the courtyard as their garden,
707
00:47:23,880 --> 00:47:26,640
and spend an important part of their lives in there.
708
00:47:26,640 --> 00:47:29,800
I've been invited to visit a group of people
709
00:47:29,800 --> 00:47:33,040
who still share their communal living space.
710
00:47:38,240 --> 00:47:40,520
- Hola!
- Hello!
- Hello.
711
00:47:42,800 --> 00:47:44,600
Come in.
712
00:47:44,600 --> 00:47:47,240
Bueno. Este es el patio.
713
00:47:47,240 --> 00:47:51,520
It's beautiful! It's extraordinary, and it's beautiful.
714
00:48:03,880 --> 00:48:07,000
- You're drinking, eating, having a nice time.
- That's right.
715
00:48:07,000 --> 00:48:10,120
- Yeah.
- Sit down.
- OK. Yeah, I'm very happy to join you.
716
00:48:10,120 --> 00:48:12,200
So, who does the work?
717
00:48:12,200 --> 00:48:15,440
- Who looks after it?
- Well, I think, everybody.
718
00:48:15,440 --> 00:48:20,960
You're retaining the traditions of communal living,
719
00:48:20,960 --> 00:48:22,760
of sharing the space.
720
00:48:22,760 --> 00:48:28,080
We met, you know, in a renting place, in a...in a block of flats.
721
00:48:28,080 --> 00:48:33,840
Five people decided to buy a place, you know,
722
00:48:33,840 --> 00:48:39,640
where they can be together. So we meet, we cook, we drink.
723
00:48:39,640 --> 00:48:40,680
So we have fun.
724
00:48:43,560 --> 00:48:45,720
Everyone looks after their own doorstep
725
00:48:45,720 --> 00:48:49,120
and their own bit of wall, but each year, they communally agree
726
00:48:49,120 --> 00:48:52,200
on a scheme to give the patio one cohesive design.
727
00:48:53,920 --> 00:48:57,600
How do you decide the sort of artistic decisions?
728
00:48:57,600 --> 00:49:02,760
- I mean, for example, who decided to put that rose up the tree?
- You have to negotiate a little bit.
729
00:49:02,760 --> 00:49:04,400
But it works, doesn't it?
730
00:49:04,400 --> 00:49:07,280
And it's a very nice feeling, sitting here.
731
00:49:07,280 --> 00:49:09,800
It feels like a good space to be in.
732
00:49:09,800 --> 00:49:13,480
We don't plan to...to make up, you know, a paradise,
733
00:49:13,480 --> 00:49:15,160
but, in the end, you know, it is.
734
00:49:18,600 --> 00:49:20,640
MUSIC AND SINGING
735
00:49:24,000 --> 00:49:27,160
We eat and drink very well, but this is Spain,
736
00:49:27,160 --> 00:49:30,560
and by midnight, the night is just beginning.
737
00:49:30,560 --> 00:49:33,240
The streets are full of people looking for a party
738
00:49:33,240 --> 00:49:36,360
and, amazingly, still looking for gardens to visit.
739
00:49:49,320 --> 00:49:53,240
Having spent all day visiting patios here in Cordoba,
740
00:49:53,240 --> 00:49:55,520
I have no hesitation in thinking
741
00:49:55,520 --> 00:49:59,840
that they are one of the great gardens of the world,
742
00:49:59,840 --> 00:50:03,520
gardens where people live and eat and work,
743
00:50:03,520 --> 00:50:08,840
and of seeing where they party and party really well.
744
00:50:08,840 --> 00:50:12,960
That seems to me a complete celebration of gardening.
745
00:50:12,960 --> 00:50:15,320
These are special.
746
00:50:23,080 --> 00:50:26,720
PEOPLE SING
747
00:50:29,680 --> 00:50:31,080
After a few hours' sleep,
748
00:50:31,080 --> 00:50:33,720
I'm up to catch the eight o'clock train to Madrid.
749
00:50:33,720 --> 00:50:36,480
It's near the end of my journey,
750
00:50:36,480 --> 00:50:38,960
but for my last visit, I'm off to meet someone
751
00:50:38,960 --> 00:50:42,840
whose work I admire almost more than any other living garden designer.
752
00:50:44,000 --> 00:50:49,120
He's someone who seems to have distilled all the different strands
753
00:50:49,120 --> 00:50:51,160
of Mediterranean culture -
754
00:50:51,160 --> 00:50:54,800
classical, through Islamic and modern Christian influences
755
00:50:54,800 --> 00:50:58,520
into one coherent style, combining a feeling for landscape, gardens,
756
00:50:58,520 --> 00:51:01,800
spirituality and philosophy that I find thrilling.
757
00:51:05,160 --> 00:51:06,920
This is a new phase in the journey,
758
00:51:06,920 --> 00:51:09,160
because we're off to see Mr Caruncho.
759
00:51:09,160 --> 00:51:12,320
Now, Caruncho is in my opinion, without doubt,
760
00:51:12,320 --> 00:51:14,440
one of the great garden designers.
761
00:51:14,440 --> 00:51:17,200
We've got the opportunity to meet him in his own home.
762
00:51:17,200 --> 00:51:20,360
Now, for me that's fantastic - I go as a fan.
763
00:51:20,360 --> 00:51:25,480
And I really want to find out how all this weight of history
764
00:51:25,480 --> 00:51:31,640
and cultural depth is reflected in his work in modern-day Spain.
765
00:51:48,120 --> 00:51:50,400
As befits a former student of philosophy,
766
00:51:50,400 --> 00:51:55,160
Fernando Caruncho's work reflects his knowledge of both classical antiquity,
767
00:51:55,160 --> 00:51:57,080
and Spain's Moorish history.
768
00:51:57,080 --> 00:52:02,200
He's fascinated by the deep relationship that man has with the landscape,
769
00:52:02,200 --> 00:52:05,320
and has experimented with agricultural crops
770
00:52:05,320 --> 00:52:09,600
as materials for his gardens, like his spectacular wheat garden
771
00:52:09,600 --> 00:52:12,080
at the Mas de les Voltes on Spain's Costa Brava,
772
00:52:12,080 --> 00:52:14,600
which brought him international recognition.
773
00:52:20,880 --> 00:52:24,400
This is very beautiful, Senor Caruncho. How nice to see you.
774
00:52:24,400 --> 00:52:27,440
'Senor Caruncho's home is just outside Madrid.
775
00:52:27,440 --> 00:52:30,440
'As I arrive, he greets me with his son, Pedro.'
776
00:52:30,440 --> 00:52:33,320
- How do you do?
- Er...Peter.
- Hello, Peter.
777
00:52:33,320 --> 00:52:35,400
This is fantastic. It is wonderful.
778
00:52:35,400 --> 00:52:39,680
It's fantastic to... for you to be in our garden.
779
00:52:39,680 --> 00:52:44,160
This is our dog. He is old. Yes, he's very old. He's very old.
780
00:52:44,160 --> 00:52:47,480
- This is very beautiful.
- Ah! Thank you, Monty.
781
00:52:47,480 --> 00:52:52,960
And this is the garden, you know, in reality, like a cloister.
782
00:52:52,960 --> 00:52:57,600
It's a cloister, open in one part from the nature.
783
00:53:02,520 --> 00:53:04,560
Although completely modern,
784
00:53:04,560 --> 00:53:08,080
evidence of Spain's Islamic heritage is clear to see.
785
00:53:08,080 --> 00:53:10,600
The exterior of the house is almost windowless.
786
00:53:10,600 --> 00:53:13,480
It's warm, strong, but closed,
787
00:53:13,480 --> 00:53:16,520
balanced between modesty and privacy.
788
00:53:16,520 --> 00:53:20,680
The large pond dominates what Caruncho calls the central cloister
789
00:53:20,680 --> 00:53:22,360
at the back of the building,
790
00:53:22,360 --> 00:53:25,360
and seems to come right up and almost into to the house.
791
00:53:25,360 --> 00:53:27,600
And the water reflects the buildings,
792
00:53:27,600 --> 00:53:31,840
the clipped contours of the escallonia on the opposite bank,
793
00:53:31,840 --> 00:53:34,240
and above all, the light.
794
00:53:34,240 --> 00:53:38,720
To me, the central idea is to control the light.
795
00:53:38,720 --> 00:53:42,080
The cloister in the middle is to control the light,
796
00:53:42,080 --> 00:53:44,320
because it's very, very strong.
797
00:53:44,320 --> 00:53:47,000
This is this idea of the box,
798
00:53:47,000 --> 00:53:52,480
to do the contrast between the shadow and light, empty and full space,
799
00:53:52,480 --> 00:53:58,560
mineral and vegetable, and in the middle, the water.
800
00:53:58,560 --> 00:54:03,280
All the wall of the garden is reflecting in the water.
801
00:54:03,280 --> 00:54:09,760
And these reflections of the light produce a vibration of light.
802
00:54:09,760 --> 00:54:14,200
Very characteristic of the Islamic gardens.
803
00:54:14,200 --> 00:54:16,840
In reality, it's a sacred space.
804
00:54:16,840 --> 00:54:20,600
So do you think that this attitude is common
805
00:54:20,600 --> 00:54:22,960
in the ordinary Spanish gardener?
806
00:54:22,960 --> 00:54:29,280
Yes. Yes, because, the Spanish people have the garden inside absolutely.
807
00:54:29,280 --> 00:54:32,640
Inside us.
808
00:54:32,640 --> 00:54:35,320
Because it's a very strong memory.
809
00:54:35,320 --> 00:54:39,360
- May I see round your garden?
- Oh, thank you, thank you, Monty.
810
00:54:39,360 --> 00:54:44,600
I'd like to...to show you with Peter, eh? Con Pedro.
811
00:54:50,240 --> 00:54:55,080
Everything in Fernando Caruncho's garden is very simple,
812
00:54:55,080 --> 00:54:56,680
strong and poised.
813
00:54:56,680 --> 00:54:59,880
The columns and colonnades reflect the classical orders
814
00:54:59,880 --> 00:55:02,320
that are so evident in Renaissance gardens,
815
00:55:02,320 --> 00:55:05,920
but there are none of the surface embellishments of Islamic art.
816
00:55:05,920 --> 00:55:10,560
His planting is restrained, but very subtly and skillfully clipped
817
00:55:10,560 --> 00:55:13,800
to weave a contour to mimic an entire hillside
818
00:55:13,800 --> 00:55:15,560
within the small space.
819
00:55:15,560 --> 00:55:18,680
In many gardens, there would be the temptation
820
00:55:18,680 --> 00:55:21,880
to embellish and add, and...
821
00:55:21,880 --> 00:55:26,920
- and have many different plants.
- Mmm-hmm. I like it to be simple,
822
00:55:26,920 --> 00:55:31,600
like a natural. The nature don't have a lot of things,
823
00:55:31,600 --> 00:55:38,880
and the majority of our gardens have three, four species of trees...
824
00:55:38,880 --> 00:55:44,440
three or more species of shrubs...
825
00:55:44,440 --> 00:55:51,040
- Two, three species of, erm, plants to... Climb.
- Climbers. Yes.
826
00:55:51,040 --> 00:55:58,720
And the flower is just to give colour and smell.
827
00:55:58,720 --> 00:56:02,280
The splendour of one moment of the garden.
828
00:56:02,280 --> 00:56:05,760
At the centre of this garden, as with all Caruncho's work,
829
00:56:05,760 --> 00:56:09,040
is a profound connection with the spirit of the place.
830
00:56:09,040 --> 00:56:12,000
It has an almost mystical relationship
831
00:56:12,000 --> 00:56:14,600
with the essence of the landscape.
832
00:56:14,600 --> 00:56:18,440
His real genius is to express this with the material resources
833
00:56:18,440 --> 00:56:20,360
available to every gardener.
834
00:56:20,360 --> 00:56:24,640
When you go in the stairs and you... you are in the...
835
00:56:24,640 --> 00:56:29,480
in the high part of the garden, you arrive in this church,
836
00:56:29,480 --> 00:56:31,960
And when you are up in this church,
837
00:56:31,960 --> 00:56:35,480
you discover the character and the landscape,
838
00:56:35,480 --> 00:56:39,400
and you are...immediately out of you.
839
00:56:39,400 --> 00:56:43,840
This...this is really... it's like a little pilgrimage.
840
00:56:43,840 --> 00:56:45,440
I understand completely.
841
00:56:45,440 --> 00:56:49,920
You don't need to read a book to understand a garden.
842
00:56:49,920 --> 00:56:52,760
You are inside the garden.
843
00:56:52,760 --> 00:56:55,080
You are in the middle.
844
00:56:55,080 --> 00:56:58,720
And in this moment, you're beginning to be transformed.
845
00:57:06,680 --> 00:57:10,320
My brief jaunt round the gardens of the Mediterranean
846
00:57:10,320 --> 00:57:13,400
has revealed how they reflect the strength
847
00:57:13,400 --> 00:57:17,800
of two very different cultures - the Classical and Islamic.
848
00:57:17,800 --> 00:57:20,040
It's also shown me how both have enriched
849
00:57:20,040 --> 00:57:23,680
and informed each other from very earliest times.
850
00:57:27,840 --> 00:57:29,800
So it feels fitting to finish here,
851
00:57:29,800 --> 00:57:33,280
in Fernando Caruncho's thoroughly modern garden,
852
00:57:33,280 --> 00:57:36,680
that synthesises not just the physical,
853
00:57:36,680 --> 00:57:40,560
but the spiritual elements of both cultures.
854
00:57:40,560 --> 00:57:44,280
That was one of the best meetings of my life.
855
00:57:44,280 --> 00:57:47,360
I knew I loved his gardens, but I tell you, I love the man.
856
00:57:47,360 --> 00:57:50,320
He's completely in tune with the way that I see the world,
857
00:57:50,320 --> 00:57:52,920
and what he's done is to refresh me and inspire me.
858
00:57:52,920 --> 00:57:55,920
I want to go and look at gardens completely differently now.
859
00:57:58,160 --> 00:57:59,400
Join me next time,
860
00:57:59,400 --> 00:58:03,040
as I visit a country with amazing indigenous flora.
861
00:58:03,040 --> 00:58:06,360
A nation that is forging a new identity for itself
862
00:58:06,360 --> 00:58:10,120
through appreciation of its environmental wonders -
863
00:58:10,120 --> 00:58:11,240
South Africa.
864
00:58:34,800 --> 00:58:37,840
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
865
00:58:37,840 --> 00:58:40,880
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75976
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