Between Art, Nature and Culture
The Villa Hanbury and its Gardens are located on the Capo Mortola promontory in the municipality of Ventimiglia, in the province of Imperia. A historic aristocratic residence, Villa Hanbury contains one of the most important botanical gardens on the Ligurian Riviera.
The original complex of Villa Hanbury consists of the ancient residence of Palazzo Orengo (16th century). In the second half of the 19th century, the property was purchased by Thomas Hanbury, an English gentleman with a passion for botany, who undertook major modernisation works. The work was entrusted to the architect Arthur Foster, who projected the entire structure on the model of Anglo-Saxon bourgeois residences. The interior decorations, in late Romantic style, were entrusted to the mosaicist Antonio Salviati, the sculptor Giovanni Scanzi and the painters Ettore Grandis and Angelo Vernazza.
The residence became an important cultural centre and remained a prestigious place throughout the 20th century.
