Villa Taranto

The Botanical Gardens of Villa Taranto are a renowned botanical garden located in the villa of the same name in Pallanza, a district of Verbania. Open to the public since 1952, the garden stretches along the northeastern slopes of the Castagnola promontory, which separates the towns of Pallanza and Intra.

For its beauty and rich variety of plant species, it is considered the most important arboretum in Italy.

History

In 1931, Scottish nobleman Neil Boyd McEacharn, son of a wealthy shipping family and a passionate botanist, purchased what was then known as Villa “La Crocetta.” The villa had been built in 1870 by Count Orsetti based on a design by Augusto Guidini. In 1900, the property passed to the wife of the Marquis of Sant’Elia, who later sold it to McEacharn.

While traveling from Venice to London in 1930, McEacharn came across an advertisement for the sale of the estate. On impulse, he decided to stop in Pallanza to visit the property. As an experienced horticulturist and botanist, he had long dreamed of creating a garden that would host plant specimens from around the world, including species from tropical and subtropical climates. His properties in England and Scotland were unsuitable for such a project due to their colder climates.

The villa, positioned at the highest point of the estate at approximately 350 meters above sea level and 100 meters above the lake Maggiore, was a three-story building with a mansard roof and a central turret topped with a spire. It was surrounded by an Italian-style garden featuring numerous statues set among geometrically designed flowerbeds. The estate extended down to the lake, but much of the land was left uncultivated.

McEacharn immediately began renovating the villa, renaming it Villa Taranto in honor of his ancestor, Étienne Jacques Joseph Alexandre Macdonald, who was awarded the title of Duke of Taranto by Napoleon Bonaparte. The formal garden was transformed into a lawn with a central fountain. Over time, McEacharn acquired additional land around the estate, expanding the park to its current 16-hectare size. His first major project was the construction of a water reservoir on the southeastern slope of the garden to feed the extensive irrigation system.

One of the key figures in the development of the gardens was Henry Cocker, an expert gardener and author of several horticultural books. Hired in 1934, Cocker played a crucial role in shaping the park, working on its design for several decades, with a six-year interruption during World War II. The gardens were officially opened to the public in 1952, welcoming visitors from April to October. Even before opening, McEacharn had established an extensive network of collaborations with botanical institutes and universities worldwide to exchange carefully selected seeds.

In 1962, McEacharn donated the entire Villa Taranto estate—consisting of several buildings and a 16-hectare park filled with plants and flowers of inestimable botanical value—to the Italian State. However, he retained the right to live on the estate and stipulated that it must be preserved for cultural, scientific, and educational purposes in the field of botany. Following his death on April 18, 1964, ownership of the villa and gardens was transferred to the Italian government. While the villa itself is not open to the public and has served as the headquarters of the Prefecture of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola since 1995, the gardens remain under the care and maintenance of the Villa Taranto Botanical Gardens Authority.

On the night of August 25, 2012, a violent tornado struck the Castagnola promontory, causing severe damage to the botanical gardens. Around 300 trees were uprooted or felled, shrubs were destroyed, and structures were heavily damaged. As a result, the gardens were closed early that season and only reopened in March 2013 after extensive restoration efforts led by the park authority and the Italian Forestry Corps.

A must-visit: www.villataranto.it