Richmond County Savings Foundation's

Tuscan Garden

Modeled after the exquisite Villa Gamberaia in Florence, this garden was designed by an international team that included Mariella Zopi, Minister of Culture for Tuscanny; Enrico Buccioni, Florence's leading preservation architect; and New York City Department of Parks Capital Project architects and specialists.

The garden is opening in the fall of 2009 and features landscaped terraces, formal water elements, topiary and period plantings, many unusual horticultural specimens including containerized olive and lemon trees, as well as an outdoor amphitheatre and a one-acre vineyard. This vineyard is located in the same area of a working vineyard that was part of the seamen's home site during the nineteeth century. By re-using an already existing site, the Richmond County Savings Foundation's Tuscan Garden instills respect for the past, pride in the present, and hope for the future.

The garden will be a showplace for plays, puppetry, storytelling and programs dealing with Italian culture. The amphitheatre will be a focal point for these events as well as for chamber music concerts. The concerts serve both as education as well as artistic and cultural programs.

The garden villa is a renovated four-story, neo-Renaissance structure located on the Snug Harbor campus. This building once served as the nurse's dormitory when the site was a seamen's home. The structure has been beautifully transformed to serve as the administrative offices as well as a center for Italian culture and education classes. The villa will showcase changing exhibits on Italian work, design and horticulture. In addition, programs in Italian language, cuisine, and music, as well as traditional seasonal festivals, will be offered. The center includes 24,000 square feet of exhibition, classroom and community meeting space, an enclosed winter garden, and a "green" amphitheatre for outdoor public programs and private functions.