Fortress of Privilege

Isola BellaIn Monty Don’s breathtaking series on Italian Gardens, he informs viewers that something quite extraordinary happened around 1550 as regards European pissing contests. After centuries of trying to outdo each other with armies and castles and hard cold wealth, European monarchs, would-be monarchs, wannabe monarchs, popes, merchants, bankers and heirs to ridiculous, unearned fortunes turned their efforts to announcing their elevated status in the world through gardens. The Age of Aquarius be damned, the 16th  century was really when flower power came into full bloom.Given all the bloody wars on the continent that came before and all the bloody wars to come in succeeding centuries, it really is quite remarkable that for one brief, shining moment, the rich and powerful were content to make their mark on the world by growing things. Content, of course, may not be exactly the right word here. Mad ambition still allowed for corruption, betrayal, and bloodletting in the service of getting ahead, but the flourishing of gardens covered it all in greenscapes of wonder and beauty that exist for the most part to this day.  Among the gardens Monty Don visits is the Villa Farnese outside of Rome where Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, in an attempt to remind the church hierarchy that he was the grandson of a pope (sic!) and worthy of the papacy himself, commissioned the design and construction of one of the grandest gardens in all Europe. As Monty Don says, Farnese’s total intent was to announce to the world that I am a powerful man. But it was of no avail in securing for him the most powerful position, the papacy. The garden gambit proved even more frustrating for Cardinal Ippolito II d’Este, who tried in vain to become pope five times. Each time he was rejected, he came back to his estate in exile in Tivoli to tear up and expand his garden, which ultimately became a majestic array of waterworks. It’s somewhat fascinating to note that as a result of his serial demolitions of surrounding homes and businesses in pursuit of his ambition he was sued by local residents.  So even in the 1560s confiscation of private property in pursuit of a rich man’s fantasy was not a popular thing. In the 19thcentury famed military strategist, Carl von Clausewitz observed that war was politics by other means. Had von Clausewitz been Italian rather than Prussian he may have amended that to be gardening is politics by other means. On opposite sides of Lake Como, two wealthy and powerful political rivals, Giovanni Battista Sommariva and Duke Francesco Melzi d'Eril, played out their heated rivalry in their gardens. As their equally impressive villas were clearly visible to each other, these two strutting peacocks constantly tried to one-up the other by planting more and more exotic plants. As Monty Don describes it, virtually firing volleys of Japanese Rhododendron across the water at one another. And oh, for wars like that again. Speaking of war, this post’s title, a fortress of privilege, comes from Don’s description of Isola Bella where a ragged rock island was transformed by the powerful Borromeo family into a lavish, almost impossible, garden, seemingly afloat on Lake Maggiore. As Monty Don strides across the expansive terrace at the very top of the island garden, he notes that this is where the family threw extravagant parties so, “People can see you’re having a party, but they’re not invited, that’s the key thing.” Obnoxious, perhaps, but a far better use of riches than garish urban towers with your name on top or vanity presidential campaigns. 
Interestingly, the Borromeo family for all its clout…and they served as governors of Isola Bella and surrounding islands…could not buy out all the fishermen on the rock and ended up having to construct their sprawling garden in and around fishermen's cottages. It’s this fact among other populist details, I think, that allow Monty Don to declare Isola Bella a fortress of privilege without any sense of condemnation. He’s seen enough of these floral and verdured monuments to ego and privilege to appreciate the irony in them. Almost all of them now serve the common people, either as state run national treasures or non-profit living museums. The private wealth that once made them possible and the ambitions that once made them essential have passed and their ownership and enjoyment now virtually belong to everyone. 
Time is the un-sealable crack in a fortress of privilege.