Arenzano boasts one of the most beautiful historic gardens in Liguria directly overlooking the sea: the Villa Negrotto Cambiaso Park. Strolling through the greenery, the eye is immediately drawn to the Art Nouveau greenhouse, which still retains some of its original splendor, the park’s peacocks with their iridescent-colored plumage, and the majestic century-old trees.
The villa is connected to the outside by two main avenues. In the forecourt, the flower beds are wrapped in sinuous mosaics made of black and white sea pebbles that create particularly rich floral patterns. All around, there is an amazing spectacle whose protagonists are common and exotic botanical varieties that are rare in Liguria. The ancient and valuable trees in the park are easy to identify as each has a plaque describing its name and age. Along the paths, which run alongside caves, kiosks, ponds, streams and water features, one can admire the cedar of Lebanon, a 125-year-old, 30-meter-high plant monument that overlooks the swan lake in the lower part of the park; camphor, with its broad, dense foliage, a plant imported by the Marquise Pallavicino in 1880; bald cypress, celophotasso and giant thuia. There are numerous centuries-old sequoias, palms from Africa and towering magnolias.
The park can be accessed through three entrances: the west entrance, from Piazza Rodocanachi, runs through the medieval village and follows the wall walkway, from which there is an excellent view of the southern area. The other two entrances, to the east on Piazza Allende and to the north on Via Sauli Pallavicino, lead onto two straight avenues that both lead toward the central villa.
The monumental Art Nouveau Greenhouse is one of the largest in Europe. It was commissioned (1931) by Marchesa Matilde Negrotto Cambiaso from architect Lamberto Cubani. Very white, all glass and iron, with a central body surmounted by a dome, it is modelled on similar ones in late 19th-century Victorian England.
In the last week of April in the Art Nouveau Greenhouse is FlorArte, an exhibition of works by Ligurian artists combined with imaginative floral arrangements. In addition to botanical rarities, of great interest is the villa’s rich fauna, represented by geese, peacocks, ducks, and aquatic turtles, which populate the lawns and ponds.
