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Terraced Gardens in Egypt, Tuscany, and the Roman Empire

© Kirk Johnson

Terraced gardens can be seen in cultures from the Incas to the Egyptians and Romans. Without terracing, cultivated soil tends to wash downhill, but when hills are plowed across the slope, the resulting ridges create little terraces that catch rainfall and control erosion. On steep slopes, it is necessary to build walls to retain the soil.

Egyptian and Roman Terraced Gardens

The earliest known example of an ornamental terraced garden is at the mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut. The terraces of this temple were originally planted with incense trees imported from Eritrea or Somalia.

The ancient Romans created grand terraced gardens to display their wealth and power. The terraced gardens of the Italian Renaissance were inspired by the ruins of Imperial Roman gardens. The Villa d’Este at Tivoli, near Rome, is one of the grandest of Renaissance gardens. The villa is at the edge of a steep slope, which has been terraced. There are fountains as focal points on the upper terraces that feed the fountains of the lower terraces, which in turn feed the fishponds at the bottom.

Tuscan Terraced Gardens

Tuscany never accepted the influence of the Imperial Roman gardens to the same extent that Renaissance Rome did. Tuscan gardens always stayed closer to their agricultural roots. The Medici villa of Il Trebbio has changed very little since the 15th century. While this was an ornamental garden, it was very closely related to farming. The garden consisted of a simple arrangement of square beds surrounded by a pergola on which grapes were grown. Vegetables and flowers were grown in the beds.

Later Tuscan villas adopted some of the grand style of Roman villas, but they never divorced themselves from agriculture. The Villa Gamberia is an excellent example of this sort of garden. Early engravings show agricultural land coming right up to the villa’s terraces. Even in the 16th century when this garden was begun, only a tiny percentage of the population could afford a classical terraced garden.

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