Luigi Trezza Through the Eyes of Daniela Cavallo: Discovering the Pojega Garden Like Never Before

Every year, thousands of visitors stroll through the avenues of Pojega Garden, one of the most remarkable historic gardens in Italy. Many are captivated by its elegant perspectives, the scenic beauty of its Theatre of Greenery, and the extraordinary harmony between architecture and nature.

Yet few truly understand the vision behind this extraordinary place.

To uncover its story, we spoke with Daniela Cavallo, architect, lecturer in Territorial Marketing at the University of Verona, and one of the leading experts on Luigi Trezza, the brilliant Veronese architect who designed Pojega Garden for Count Antonio Rizzardi between 1783 and 1796.

For many years, Daniela Cavallo has studied Trezza's work, exploring his design philosophy while promoting his cultural legacy through academic publications, lectures and contemporary design projects. Among these are her reinterpretations of Trezza's geometries in the D-ecus Artep Italia carpet collection and the Linea Trezza Design jewellery collection, demonstrating how relevant his vision remains today.

More recently, together with PG&W Studio, she led the enhancement project for Pojega Garden as part of the extensive restoration funded by the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) – Historic Parks and Gardens Programme, completed in 2024.

The result is a conversation that explores not only one of Europe's most fascinating historic Italian gardens, but also how beauty can still educate, inspire and promote well-being today.

Daniela Cavallo, Who Was Luigi Trezza?

"Luigi Trezza was much more than an architect."

Painter, stage designer, planner, innovator and one of the leading figures of Veronese Neoclassicism, Trezza had an exceptionally modern education. He did not simply design buildings or gardens — he designed experiences.

His deep understanding of perspective, developed during his years as a lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Verona, allowed him to conceive landscapes as theatrical settings in which visitors themselves became the protagonists.

"Trezza didn't simply design a garden," Daniela Cavallo explains. "He designed an experience. Every path, every perspective and every opening was carefully conceived to evoke different emotions throughout the walk."

That is precisely what makes his work so remarkably contemporary.

Why Can Luigi Trezza Still Be Considered a Contemporary Designer?

Long before the term experience design existed, Luigi Trezza was already creating landscapes where surprise became an essential part of the project.

Nothing is accidental. Light, vegetation, viewpoints, green walls and even the rhythm of the walk become elements of a carefully choreographed narrative that accompanies visitors from beginning to end.

Few people know that Trezza was not only one of the greatest garden designers of his time, but also an accomplished theatre scenographer. This dual identity clearly emerges throughout Pojega Garden, where every perspective feels like a stage set designed to surprise those walking its paths.

According to Daniela Cavallo, it is precisely this ability to merge architecture, art and nature that makes Trezza's work so relevant today.

It is no coincidence that scholars regard him as the link between the geometric rigor of the Italian Renaissance garden and the emerging Romantic sensibility that would shape European landscape design in the nineteenth century.

Why Is Pojega Garden So Different from Other Historic Gardens?

Daniela Cavallo smiles before answering with a definition that is both simple and remarkably powerful:

"Pojega Garden is a story."

Unlike many historic gardens in Europe, where the overall layout can be appreciated at a glance, Pojega Garden reveals itself gradually.

Visitors never fully grasp the design from a single viewpoint.

Tall hedges, tree-lined avenues, terraces, green rooms and constantly changing perspectives encourage a slow and immersive exploration of the landscape.

"It isn't a garden you understand immediately," explains Cavallo. "You discover it step by step. Every bend in the path hides a surprise, every opening reveals a new perspective. It is a garden designed to be experienced on foot."

This is one of the most innovative aspects of Luigi Trezza's vision.

While visitors to Renaissance gardens often admire the composition from an elevated vantage point, at Pojega Garden they become physically involved in the narrative.

They do not simply observe the landscape.

They become part of it.

Does the Garden Have a Symbolic Meaning?

"Absolutely."

According to Daniela Cavallo, Luigi Trezza did not simply design a sequence of avenues, terraces and flower beds. Instead, he created a genuine symbolic journey, capable of guiding visitors through both a physical and an inner experience.

"Every space tells a story. Pojega Garden is not simply a place to admire; it is a place to experience."

The journey begins on the lower terrace, where geometry reigns supreme. Formal boxwood parterres, axial perspectives, fountains and rows of hornbeam trees express the Enlightenment ideal of nature shaped by human reason.

As visitors climb towards the central level, the landscape gradually changes. Tall hedges form a succession of green rooms connected by leafy corridors that invite people to slow down, pause and embrace the unexpected.

Finally, the path reaches the Romantic woodland, where geometry dissolves and nature appears to regain its freedom.

"It can be interpreted as a journey of personal growth—from understanding the external world to discovering oneself."

Yet, as Cavallo points out, there is also another possible interpretation.

"The woodland can represent Dante's dark forest—a place of uncertainty from which visitors emerge to rediscover harmony through beauty and order."

It is precisely this richness of meanings that makes Pojega Garden feel so remarkably contemporary.

Every visitor is free to interpret the journey differently, transforming a walk through the garden into a deeply personal experience.

Luigi Trezza's Geometries: When Landscape Becomes Design

Viewed from above, Pojega Garden immediately reveals the precision of its composition.

Nothing has been left to chance.

The proportions, visual axes and careful balance between open and enclosed spaces demonstrate a mastery of geometry that goes far beyond aesthetics.

For Daniela Cavallo, this is one of the most fascinating aspects of Luigi Trezza's work.

Over the years, she has devoted extensive research to analysing his geometric language, eventually reinterpreting it through contemporary design projects.

Among the best-known examples are the D-ecus Artep Italia carpet collection and the Linea Trezza Design jewellery collection, both created to demonstrate how the Veronese architect's design principles continue to inspire contemporary creativity.

"These geometries are not merely decorative patterns. They are a language. Trezza used proportion, measurement and drawing to make the harmony of nature visible."

It is a lesson that has lost none of its relevance.

Even in today's era of digital design and contemporary landscape architecture, Luigi Trezza's work continues to inspire architects, landscape designers and scholars around the world.

Why Is the Theatre of Greenery One of Pojega Garden's Greatest Treasures?

When asked what makes the Theatre of Greenery so extraordinary, Daniela Cavallo answers without hesitation:

"Because it isn't a theatre set within a garden. The garden itself becomes the theatre."

This simple statement perfectly captures the essence of one of Europe's finest surviving historic green theatres and the second best-preserved example in Italy.

Here, vegetation becomes architecture.

Grass-covered terraces form the audience seating, while towering hornbeam hedges and cypress trees create the theatrical wings. Classical statues and niches complete a composition where every element has both an aesthetic and symbolic purpose.

It is here that Luigi Trezza's background as a stage designer becomes most apparent.

"In the Theatre of Greenery, Trezza brought theatrical scenography into the landscape, transforming trees and hedges into architectural stage elements."

More than two centuries after its creation, the theatre continues to fulfil the purpose for which it was designed.

Concerts, theatre performances, cultural events and the internationally renowned Festival della Bellezza still take place within its living walls, proving the remarkable foresight of Trezza's vision: creating a landscape that continues to inspire, entertain and bring people together.

The "Healing Garden": A Vision Ahead of Its Time

In recent years, the concept of the Healing Garden has gained increasing attention in landscape architecture and environmental psychology.

For Daniela Cavallo, however, Luigi Trezza had already anticipated this philosophy more than two hundred years ago.

"The great garden designers of the eighteenth century already understood that beauty, greenery, water, silence and slow walking generate well-being."

Today, disciplines such as Environmental Psychology and Nature Therapy scientifically confirm what Trezza intuitively understood: spending time in thoughtfully designed green spaces helps reduce stress, improve concentration and promote emotional well-being.

Pojega Garden embodies this vision perfectly.

It combines the rational elegance of the Italian formal garden with the restorative power of nature, inviting visitors to reconnect with themselves through beauty and contemplation.

"Pojega was designed to slow people down. It is not a place to hurry through. It is a place to stop, observe and breathe."

This philosophy continues today through the Healing Garden Project, developed in collaboration with the IRCCS Sacro Cuore Don Calabria Hospital in Negrar and local associations during the annual Le Giornate del Giardino Terapeutico (Healing Garden Days).

Guided walks, sensory workshops, educational activities and wellness experiences transform the garden into a living space where culture, landscape and health come together.

"Look Up": Daniela Cavallo's Advice for Every Visitor

Before ending our conversation, we ask Daniela Cavallo if there is one detail she always encourages visitors to notice. 

She smiles. "Look up."

Many visitors walk through the garden focusing only on the paths beneath their feet.

Yet Pojega Garden was designed around perspectives.

Pause for a moment and observe how carefully the visual axes frame the surrounding Valpolicella landscape, the Belvedere, the Theatre of Greenery, and the classical statues placed throughout the garden.

It is precisely here that Luigi Trezza's genius becomes evident.

"He wasn't simply designing a green space. He was designing the way people would look at the world."

Perhaps this is the true legacy of Pojega Garden: teaching us, even today, to slow down and observe more carefully.

"Beauty Is Something to Be Experienced"

Before saying goodbye, we ask Daniela Cavallo to describe Pojega Garden in just one sentence.

She answers without hesitation.

"It is a place that continues to teach us that beauty is not simply something to admire, but something to experience."

These words perfectly capture Luigi Trezza's vision and explain why Pojega Garden continues to inspire thousands of visitors from around the world more than two centuries after its creation.

It is not merely a historic Italian garden.

It is a place where architecture, landscape, art and nature still speak the same language.

Visit Pojega Garden

After discovering Luigi Trezza's vision through Daniela Cavallo's words, the best way to truly understand his masterpiece is to experience it in person.

Walk through the elegant avenues, explore the geometric terraces, wander among the green rooms, and discover the remarkable Theatre of Greenery, one of Europe's most extraordinary examples of landscape architecture.

Every visit reveals new perspectives and hidden details, allowing you to experience one of Italy's most fascinating historic gardens exactly as Luigi Trezza intended.

👉 Plan your visit, discover opening hours and book your experience at Pojega Garden.