Focus: The Venetian garden in the Napoleonic era

On Tuesday, April 16th, the fifth installment of the "Third Tuesday of the Month" conference series, organized by the cultural association "Manlio Cecovini Study Society" took place.

The event featured Associate Professor of Modern Art History at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Trieste, Barbara Mazza Boccazzi, and was held in the magnificent setting of the Antico Caffè San Marco.

Introduced by the association's president, Giuseppe Antonione, and the scientific director, Luca G. Manenti, Professor Mazza Boccazzi delved into the Masonic backgrounds and esoteric aspects of the Venetian garden during the Napoleonic era. This topic represents the culmination of a long journey that began in 2002 with the publication of "Masonic Symbolism in the Venetian Garden between the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries and Venetian Studies," a text later expanded and further developed, also included in an important history of esotericism annal published by Einaudi.

During her presentation, Barbara Mazza Boccazzi outlined the architectural and scenographic techniques used by the designer Giuseppe Jappelli, a Venetian by birth and a Paduan by adoption. She particularly explored the symbolism of the two most representative parks located in the province of Padua: the Querini di Altichiero garden and the Cittadella Vigodarzere, now Valmarana, garden in Saonara. Lastly, eagerly anticipated was the representation of symbols such as the Baphomet and the curious manipulations of natural elements in park architecture.

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