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Bomarzo, Italy -

Bomarzo lies about nine miles (25 km) northeast of Viterbo in Italy's Lazio region. It's lofty location alone makes this charming hill town worth exploring. But there's an altogether more compelling reason to visit Bomarzo.

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Gardens of Bomarzo -

Nestled in a wooded valley beyond Bomarzo's weathered town walls is a park unlike any other found in Italy. What's more, it was not so much designed to please as to shock.

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Garden of Monsters -

Welcome to the Parco dei Mostri, or the Park of Monsters. Also known as the Garden of Monsters, this extraordinary visitor attraction is notorious for its collection of grotesque and frightening sculptures fashioned as giant beasts and mythical beings.

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Pier Francesco Orsini -

The garden was commissioned in the 16th century by Pier Francesco Orsini (1523–585), the duke of Bomarzo. He hired Italian Renaissance architect Pirro Ligorio to design the layout and sculptor Simone Moschino to create a series of bizarre and fascinating works of art chiseled out of local stone in a Mannerist style, a rough 16th-century version of Surrealism.

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A surreal experience -

And surreal best describes the experience discovering the monstrous figures scattered throughout the estate, pieces like the screaming Orcus, a god of the underworld, in whose gaping mouth visitors are seemingly swallowed up as they venture forward into this terrifying environment.

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What was Orsini trying to say? -

Historians still haven't quite worked out what Orsini was trying to communicate with his alarming creations. He had been a general in the pope's army during the Italian Wars, fought between 1494 and 1559, and had witnessed death firsthand, including the demise of many friends.

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Built out of sorrow and grief -

Orsini had also been a prisoner of war, held for ransom by the enemy for several years. Shortly after his release in 1547, Orsini lost his wife to disease. The park is dedicated to her memory.

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A disturbing memorial -

But why rather than commemorate her life in a tranquil and serene manner did the grieving husband instead choose to remember her by unveiling such a disturbing memorial?

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Reading between the lines -

A clue is found within an inscription carved into a stone bench in the garden, which translates into English as: "You that are wandering through the world, willing to see high and splendid marvels, do come here where there are horrible faces, elephants, lions, bears, ogres and dragons."

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A belief in Epicureanism -

The horrors of war and personal loss prompted Orsini to distance himself from religion and embrace Epicureanism, a philosophy best described as a form of hedonism defined by the pursuit of pleasure.

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More questions than answers -

The problem with Epicureanism is the paradox it creates. If God is all-powerful and all-good, then why is there evil and suffering in the world? Was this the question Orsini was trying to answer when he devised his Garden of Monsters?

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"Villa of Wonders" -

While the monster-filled garden can be interpreted as a visual way of addressing his demons, Orsini was also inspired by classical literature when designing the park. His own name for the estate was "Villa of Wonders," a reference to the arcadian vision he held of a place of rustic innocence and harmony with nature.

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Fury -

More than 30 statues and sculptures feature in the garden. Among the more recognizable pieces is winged Fury. Armed with claws and a long scaly tail, Fury is a scary-looking winged serpent, though her face radiates a calm gaze.

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Dragon attacked by lions -

More ferocious in manner is an outlandish anthropomorphic creature resembling a winged dragon with hooves that is being attacked by a pair of lions. It's been suggested that this piece represents the conflict between the natural world and the supernatural world.

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Theatrical columns -

Overlooking an area of the park that once served as a theater are seven columns topped with busts, each crowned by a basket. Some of the busts have four faces, representing either the four faces of man or the four faced deity Janus.

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Hannibal's War Elephant -

One of the more striking pieces of sculpture is Elefante, also known as Hannibal's War Elephant. This work is representative of the tragic events from Orsini's military career, though the elephant is one used in battle by the highly successful Carthaginian general Hannibal, who defeated the Roman army during the Second Punic War around 200 BCE in an area not far from Bomarzo. The animal's trunk is wrapped around the corpse of a Roman legionary, likely speaking of the suffering inflicted on soldiers in war.

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Sphinx -

The garden's two sphinxes sit on plinths carved with cryptic inscriptions that rather set the tone for the realm entered. The one pictured here reads: "You who enter here put your mind to it part by part and tell me then if so many wonders are made as trickery or as art."

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Distorting the mind -

One of the most iconic structures at Bomarzo is the leaning house, which tilts near the original entrance to the gardens. Did Orsini mean to confound the mind and alter one's sense of perception by ordering the construction of such a disorienting piece of architecture?

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Ceres -

The garden displays two examples of Ceres, the ancient Roman goddess of of agriculture, grain crops, fertility, and motherly relationships. They are both oddly proportioned with exaggerated limbs and each is seen balancing a wide vase on their heads.

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Nymph -

Simone Moschino's Nymph has had historians scratching their heads for centuries. Is she asleep or dying? Sensual and vulnerable in equal measure, she's being watched over by a dog, a faithful hound guarding its mistress.

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Whale -

The upturned statue of a killer whale is suitably positioned near a gushing stream, the water with which the ocean's top predator needs in order to survive. Its teeth are clearly visible.

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Tortoise -

The garden's magnificent tortoise features a statue of Nike standing on an orb, a piece symbolic of moving through time slowly and patiently while a hastier life balances precariously on the sphere.

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Nymphaeum -

Carved from solid rock, the Nymphaeum was originally covered with a solid vaulted roof. In Greek mythology, the nymphs were usually associated with fertile, growing things, such as trees, or with water. Blessed with long lives, they were on the whole kindly disposed toward men. The inscription on the wall reads: "The cave and fountain free you from every dark thought."

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Family name set in stone -

Two standing stone bears, literally orsini in Italian, greet visitors to Bomarzo. The animals are symbols of the family name.

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Fighting Giants -

Arguably the most powerful statue in terms of visual strength is the Fighting Giants, or Wrestling Giants. The sculpture, which depicts a giant tearing another giant in half, is said to be inspired by a poem called 'Orlando Furioso' that paralleled an event in Orsini's life involving love, jealousy, and death.

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Larger than life -

This boastful inscription set near the battling giants reads: "If Rhodes of old was elevated by its colossus so by this one my wood is made glorious too and more I cannot do. I do as much as I am able to."

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Two-tailed mermaid -

The curious two-tailed mermaid is a familiar figure in Etruscan culture. She's often found carved on funerary urns and as a motif in Tuscan architecture. Here, her double tails serve as novel park benches. 

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Dining in the mouth of hell -

Visitors have previously dined in the mouth of hell, the huge orifice belonging to the aforementioned Orcus. While not encouraged today, the experience was akin to simultaneously eating and being eaten—another reference to the duality many of the sculptures and monuments represent.

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Monster appetite -

The bench set inside the mouth is carved out of bedrock, a crude picnic table if you will. Orcus' eyes and mouth allow enough light in to the interior to dimly illuminate the space.

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In loving memory -

The highest point in the Garden of Monsters is marked by the Temple of Eternity. Built 20 years after the park was begun, it's said to honor the memory of Pier Francesco Orsini's wife, Giulia Farnes. It currently houses the tombs of Giovanni Bettini and Tina Severi, the owners who restored the garden in the 20th century.

Sources: (Atlas Obscura) (Jeffrey Bale's World of Gardens)

See also: Memorable epitaphs from famous gravestones

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