ABSTRACT
The early Pietro Porcinai garden projects were inspired by the formal designs of the classical Italian garden and were characterized by the dark verdant tones of evergreens, almost always without additional color. When plants grow in complete accord with one another, Pietro Porcinai held, they express an aesthetic and harmonious balance in their distribution, shape, and color. The time and care he spent in checking the planting during and after the execution of the projects were extensive, almost to the point of being obsessive, and expensive; they reflected his intense desire to be thorough and always in control. In planting the Ca’ Gianin, for example, ten different nurseries provided plant materials: four in Switzerland, three in Germany, two in Italy, and one in Holland. In Pietro Porcinai’s landscapes, plants were selected to express the central relationship—and usually succeeded in doing so.
