Description
The Public Gardens are La Spezia's big park, between the old town and the sea: tree-lined avenues, plants of many species, monuments and a 19th-century bandstand.
The most eye-catching piece is the equestrian monument to Giuseppe Garibaldi, which the city commissioned to remember the general's stays in La Spezia and inaugurated in 1913: a 6-ton bronze with the horse rearing, standing on its hind legs alone.
Older still is the Palco della Musica, the bandstand: it was bought at the Turin Universal Exposition and set up here in 1866, at the spot where the first core of the park was born.
Among the monuments to local figures, the large Carrara marble bust of Ceccardo Roccatagliata Ceccardi, the poet of the Apuan Alps, by Aldo Buttini, stands out. Since 2006 there has also been Antonio Trotta's monument to the Resistance, dedicated to the fourth partisan zone.
The gardens are also home to the Centro Salvador Allende, which hosts conferences and exhibitions.
The park's history follows that of the city. In the first half of the 19th century La Spezia began to spread beyond its medieval walls, and in 1825 a first garden called the Boschetto was created, laid out in the theatrical style of the time.
Ten years later the greenery already reached the lawn in front of Palazzo Doria, on Via Chiodo. Real growth, however, came with the naval Arsenal.
The earth dug out to build the Arsenal's docks was dumped into the sea right in front of the old town. On that new land, reclaimed from the sea, the gardens spread out, and by the end of the 19th century they already covered the area they do today.
The look you still see now dates from the years between 1920 and 1930, with the contribution of the La Spezia artist Felice Del Santo.
Every year, for the feast of the patron saint on March 19, the gardens are part of the area of the Fiera di San Giuseppe, with more than six hundred stalls between Piazza Europa and the seafront.
The most eye-catching piece is the equestrian monument to Giuseppe Garibaldi, which the city commissioned to remember the general's stays in La Spezia and inaugurated in 1913: a 6-ton bronze with the horse rearing, standing on its hind legs alone.
Older still is the Palco della Musica, the bandstand: it was bought at the Turin Universal Exposition and set up here in 1866, at the spot where the first core of the park was born.
Among the monuments to local figures, the large Carrara marble bust of Ceccardo Roccatagliata Ceccardi, the poet of the Apuan Alps, by Aldo Buttini, stands out. Since 2006 there has also been Antonio Trotta's monument to the Resistance, dedicated to the fourth partisan zone.
The gardens are also home to the Centro Salvador Allende, which hosts conferences and exhibitions.
The park's history follows that of the city. In the first half of the 19th century La Spezia began to spread beyond its medieval walls, and in 1825 a first garden called the Boschetto was created, laid out in the theatrical style of the time.
Ten years later the greenery already reached the lawn in front of Palazzo Doria, on Via Chiodo. Real growth, however, came with the naval Arsenal.
The earth dug out to build the Arsenal's docks was dumped into the sea right in front of the old town. On that new land, reclaimed from the sea, the gardens spread out, and by the end of the 19th century they already covered the area they do today.
The look you still see now dates from the years between 1920 and 1930, with the contribution of the La Spezia artist Felice Del Santo.
Every year, for the feast of the patron saint on March 19, the gardens are part of the area of the Fiera di San Giuseppe, with more than six hundred stalls between Piazza Europa and the seafront.