Monsters of Bomarzo

Fear. The ultimate emotion. Primordial. The human instincts whether real or perceived have given us all the ability to react swiftly with a startled heart, clammy palms or the nostalgic goosebumps up our arms triggered by a sight, a sound or even a thought. 

It was this emotion that predominantly occupied the thoughts of Vicino Orisini, the Duke of Bomarzo. Haunted by his 11 years in service to the Papal Army. War is the most certain way to form traumatic triggers. Triggers that cause the sudden influx of shock to a system based on memories of sights, sounds and terrors imagined. 

Vicino returned home after his release by the Germans. His capture hurt less than the mortal loss of his friend Orazio Farnese. He was held as a prisoner of war and eventually ransomed back. He had three years of formulating his thoughts on terror. Hypotheses on Monsters were formed. His more sensitive artistic and poetic disposition taking the lead over his vocational activity as a General during the Reformation. He had studied the classics extensively in his youth. Which lent to his imagination and created the impetus to building a park inhabited by stone monsters.

The reality and ability of creating a garden park filled with images of terror would not of been possible if not for Alessandro Farnese who intercede on Vicino's behalf and settled his inheritance giving him the duchy of Bomarzo. Alessandro also was the reason for Vicino's marital bliss. His marriage to Giulia being originally arranged as a political match but leaving Vicino heart broken and melancholy as his love for her punctuated his desire to build a garden to be the opposite of all traditional Italian gardens.

Vicino Orsini, the duke of Bomarzo sat quietly, motionless as his good friends Cristoforo Madruzzo and Franseco Sansovino waited for their friend to process the news that his beloved wife Giulia Farnese had passed away suddenly and prematurely by all accounts while visiting family.

In the moonlight the sculptures have the illusion of realty bringing the Monsters to life in the shadows. Out of the corner of your eye, did you see a movement? Did your ears hear something moving in the underbrush? Can the mortal terror hold sway when the mind holds more Monsters than the chisel can display on a forest path. Vicino thought to himself how at peace he felt now that the dragons, giants and Trolls occupied the earth in physical form. They could shine in the sunlight and be magical in the moonlight but best of all they could finally leave the realm of imagination. He could be relieved of the dark melancholy that lived inside of him since the death of his mentor and friend Orazio. Now Vicino sat upon his horse, Raggazino, and stared at the troll with its mouth wide open as of it would swallow the world. Or at the very least Vicino. As the Monsters from his innermost thoughts were now physically represented in stone sculptures that made up the Italian garden designed by Ligorio. Vicino paid commissions out more each year to add additional sculptures: a giant turtle among them.

Vicino remember a night after he had returned home from being a prisoner of war when he was awoken by Giulia screaming as she awoke from a nightmare.

“I don't want to take away from what you have gone through,” Giulia demured. 

“You won't. One person's pain and fear doesn't subtract or supersede another. Tell me. ,” Vicino pleaded. 

“It’s a reoccurring dream since I was a young girl. A turtle. A giant turtle. I guess it’s a echo of my childhood when Alessandro would catch them. When they are small and trapped in an aquarium . They can't be frightening, can they?” Giulia explained as Vicino listened intently to his wife. “However if you've ever seen a turtle eat. Not lettuce not vegetables from the garden but tadpoles. A turtle can take on a mystical quality. As a predator it seems benign until you watch one shred tadpoles. You realize that this creature. This Turtle, with its shell and slow plodding girth. Is a an efficient omnivore! Then, “Giulia paused. Licked her lips. Sighed. Before continuing, “You dream. In the dream you are small like a tadpole. The turtle is large, larger than in real life. You scream out. Wake up. Trembling, I suppose., “ Giulia looked into her husbands eyes and she knows he's seen his fair share of horrors. First the horrors of war and then being a prisoner of war. Real things to fear not mythological turtles from dream states that reoccur and cause her a night fright. But his eyes look at her with compassion and concern. He smiles, “It must be horrifying in the moment.” She nods affirmative and he gathers her in his arms to give her a warm hug. Never considering that his beloved Giulia would soon be gone leaving an emptiness as she took flight. 

Fear is the most natural of all human emotions. No one gets through life without some moment of heart seizure whether real or imagined. Nightmares can be dark, hidden and alone or they can be shared, out in the open, larger than life immortalized in malleable calcareous tufa stone indigenous in the Woods north of Rome. 

Everything takes time. Rome wasn't built in a day. The monsters of Bamarzo were no exception. The undertaking of this garden park was a collaborative effort. Vicino’s vision and the architectural talents of Pirro Ligorio landscaper and business partner of Michelangelo and the secret sculptor, Simone Mochino. It's no wonder that centuries later the park would be called a land art museum. 

All art is beheld by the eye of the beholder. Vicino toured his Park of Monsters frequently finding sanctuary where he could ride his horse Raggazino along the path. His classical education combined with his tragedies led him to build his land art museum. His poetic side and personality shown in carved quotations that accompany his 15 monsters. Including Winged horses, Elephants, Dragons , lions, trolls, giants and Mythological Gods of the Sea.

He paused to linger at the turtle. With a woman upon a pedestal riding it’s back. Would Giulia approve? Few people understood Vicino but his beloved wife, dead too soon, and may have been the closest person to understanding his dark side. 

For others he left clues in the garden. Pluto the guardian of hell, with an open mouth big enough to fit a dining room in using the tongue as a table for eating a picnic. Eat or be eaten. And the inscription Ogni penseiro Vola, All thoughts fly. For even if you whisper inside the sculpture, it magnifies your speech and can be heard outside. 

Inscriptions on the monsters themselves or on oblesiks around the garden seem to show a sense of humor, teasing future visitors. “Thou, who enter this garden be very attentive and tell me then if these marvels have been created to deceive visitors, or for the sake of art.”  

Vicino returned to the house and wrote in his personal diary, “I can find relief only in my beloved forest, and I bless the money I have spent and still spend on this magic area.”

 Vicino Orsini, soldier, poet and patron of the arts built a garden filled with monstrous stone statues in tribute to friends and family he lost through tragedy while leaving engraved inscriptions for visitors that have eroded or been covered in moss and in many cases are cryptic today. After 470 years, No consensus of historians or art experts has ever explained it’s purpose of design. 

Perhaps the inscription at the entrance of the Monsters of Bomarzo Park, “ All reason departs.” Sums it up nicely for 40,000 visitors each year.