APGI
Association of the Parks and Gardens of Italy

Promoted by Arcus S.p.A. (now part of ALES S.p.A) – an in-house company of Italy’s Ministry of Culture – APGI was founded in 2011 with the participation of some of the most active organizations operating in Italy in the field of landscape and cultural heritage promotion, conservation and knowledge: FAI – Fondo Ambiente Italiano, Touring Club Italiano, Associazione Dimore Storiche Italiane, Fondazione Ente Ville Vesuviane, I.R.Vi.T – Istituto Regionale Ville Tuscolane, Associazione Civita, Unione dei Garden Club d’Italia, Fondazione Monte Paschi Siena, Giardino Romano Garden Club, Promo P.A. Fondazione. The other 40 partners that have joined the association, include Associazione Ville e Palazzi Lucchesi, l’Associazione Ville e Giardini di Puglia, la Società Botanica Italiana, ReGiS-Rete Giardini Storici, l’Associazione per le Ville Venete and Fondazione Benetton Studi e Ricerche. The Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism (MiBACT) has supported this initiative from the beginning, recognising the importance of an increasingly effective study and research approach towards the enhancement of parks and gardens. The Association’s main objectives include

• the elaboration of unified park and garden classification, safeguard, creation, maintenance, management, development and promotion policies;
• promotion of public and tourist fruition of parks and gardens, via the development of projects for the enhancement of said outdoor spaces;
• the promotion of regulations responding to the specific needs of park and garden owners and managing authorities;
• the elaboration of propositions for a better contribution to the sustainable development of parks and gardens;
• the definition of standards and educational programmes for the personnel operating in the planning, care, management and maintenance of the gardens;
• the compilation of a park and garden national census based on cataloguing criteria defined in accordance with ICCD (Central Institute for Catalogues and Documentation);
• the promotion of study, scientific research and documentation activities, also in relation to the effects of environmental risks impacting the biodiversity and ecosystem of parks and gardens;
• meetings and publications dedicated to the most important issues and good practices in this sector.

To bring to the public’s attention the extraordinary reality of Italy’s gardens APGI and Touring Club Italiano have published a guide entitled L’Italia dei Giardini. Viaggio attraverso la Bellezza tra Natura e Artificio ,documenting over 3000 gardens open to the public and stemming from a national-scale garden census, this publication is the first instalment of a comprehensive valorisation project whose objective is to promote a green and environmentally sustainable tourism. Another APGI publication in collaboration with Touring Editore is the guide entitled I Giardini del Lazio.APGI is also the organizer of the yearly initiative “Appuntamento in Giardino” with the objective of inviting the wider public to discover the historic, artistic, botanic and landscape heritage of Italian gardens. APGI can count on an extensive network of European partners. The President of APGI Ludovico Ortona and the President of the Board of Advisors Paolo Pejrone are respectively members of the Board of directors and of the Scientific council of the European Institute for Gardens and Landscapes in Bénouville, France with which APGI enjoys a long-standing partnership.

Visit the APGI institutional website