Villa Oliveto Castelmuzio
The project
We are in the heart of Tuscany, in one of the region’s most iconic areas: the Val d’Orcia, a land of wide horizons, cypress-lined roads, and extraordinary natural scenery.
The clients, initially unaware of the site’s full potential, gave me great creative freedom, allowing me to fully express my vision as a landscape designer.
Creating a low-water garden in a context where water is a limited resource is not only a necessity but also a great challenge. The soils in this area (heavy, clayey, and tuffaceous) did not allow for radical interventions such as removing 30-40 cm of topsoil and replacing it with a new substrate, due to the high costs involved.
Collaboration with an experienced gardener therefore proved essential. His deep tilling work, carried out in several passes, improved the soil structure, lightening it with sand and enriching it with a fraction of compost. Creating a substrate suitable for the healthy development of plant communities is more than half the work: even the most refined design loses its value if the soil is not properly prepared.
The project draws inspiration from the spontaneous landscapes of the Val d’Orcia and the pioneer vegetation that inhabits them. Since the garden belongs to a boutique hotel dedicated to weddings and events, it was also necessary to include large lawn areas, balancing aesthetic and functional needs with the dry garden philosophy.
A dry garden is a self-sufficient ecosystem, based on draining and porous substrates, gravel-mulched surfaces, and Mediterranean plants resistant to drought and extreme climatic conditions. In this case, while it was not possible to create a “pure” dry garden, irrigation was reduced through the use of drought-tolerant lawn varieties, and maintenance was automated with robotic mowers.
The planting composition is based on an evergreen matrix of Mediterranean shrubs, such as Cistus and Pistacia lentiscus, enriched with ornamental grasses (Stipa, Pennisetum) that bring naturalness and movement. From this base emerge delicate, non-invasive blooms that offer soft touches of color from spring to late autumn, maintaining a continuous balance between beauty and sustainability.
The clients, initially unaware of the site’s full potential, gave me great creative freedom, allowing me to fully express my vision as a landscape designer.
Creating a low-water garden in a context where water is a limited resource is not only a necessity but also a great challenge. The soils in this area (heavy, clayey, and tuffaceous) did not allow for radical interventions such as removing 30-40 cm of topsoil and replacing it with a new substrate, due to the high costs involved.
Collaboration with an experienced gardener therefore proved essential. His deep tilling work, carried out in several passes, improved the soil structure, lightening it with sand and enriching it with a fraction of compost. Creating a substrate suitable for the healthy development of plant communities is more than half the work: even the most refined design loses its value if the soil is not properly prepared.
The project draws inspiration from the spontaneous landscapes of the Val d’Orcia and the pioneer vegetation that inhabits them. Since the garden belongs to a boutique hotel dedicated to weddings and events, it was also necessary to include large lawn areas, balancing aesthetic and functional needs with the dry garden philosophy.
A dry garden is a self-sufficient ecosystem, based on draining and porous substrates, gravel-mulched surfaces, and Mediterranean plants resistant to drought and extreme climatic conditions. In this case, while it was not possible to create a “pure” dry garden, irrigation was reduced through the use of drought-tolerant lawn varieties, and maintenance was automated with robotic mowers.
The planting composition is based on an evergreen matrix of Mediterranean shrubs, such as Cistus and Pistacia lentiscus, enriched with ornamental grasses (Stipa, Pennisetum) that bring naturalness and movement. From this base emerge delicate, non-invasive blooms that offer soft touches of color from spring to late autumn, maintaining a continuous balance between beauty and sustainability.
The video