Friday, February 01, 2008

Rome Opera Singer Savior of Cleveland's Italian Rennaissance Gardens.

The ANNOTICO Report

 

Aside from Severance Concert Hall, the one nice thing I remember about Cleveland was the Parkway  that was bisected the city in a semi circular path, with no intersections.

 

It was crowned by a group of Ethnic Gardens, at the North East end, called Rockefeller Park, the Italian Gardens being the crown jewel.  It was a marvelous experience to stroll through the some 20 different Ethnicities represented.

 

With the decline of the Cleveland, Detroit, and some other rust belt cities the Gardens lost their luster, But an Italian Opera singer from Rome refused to allow the only Italian Renaissance garden in the United States, to slip into oblivion, and has raised $250,000 to bring them back to their former glory.

 

Restoration Could be Garden's Renaissance

Cleveland Plain Dealer

Roxanne Washington

Thursday, January 31, 2008

The Italian Cultural Garden in Rockefeller Park is looking a lot snazzier these days. One of the fountains has been stripped down to a sparkling clean finish, the deep cracks repaired, and 16 new lampposts cast a warm glow over the Italian Renaissance setting at night.

This is just the beginning. It won't be long before the monument is fully restored to its original 1930s majesty.

"It's going to be very elegant when we're done," says Joyce Mariani.

Mariani is executive director of the Italian Cultural Garden Foundation, and the driving force behind the $250,000 ongoing garden overhaul. Mariani is an opera singer who has performed at Severance Hall and throughout Europe, and still maintains a home in Rome.

While Italians and other Europeans appreciate public gardens, Mariani says, it saddened her to see how Americans zoom right by, too busy to stop and notice. She thought it a shame that the Italian Cultural Garden in Cleveland -- the only Italian Renaissance garden in the United States, she says -- lost its luster.

"In Italy, gardens are part of people's daily lives," Mariani says as she surveys the garden off of East Boulevard, weeds poking up between broken pavement, but not for long. "The gardens are used by families, lovers, people who go to read their newspapers or just relax."

Mariani took it upon herself to organize an effort to give the garden a much-needed face-lift. In the beginning, her tactics were rather bold.

"I read about people in the newspaper, and if they were Italian, I called them and told them what I was trying to do," she says. "A lot of people didn't even know there's an Italian Cultural Garden in Rockefeller Park. A couple people asked, Where is it?' "

Her enthusiasm was contagious, and since then others have joined the efforts of the Foundation. Grants and private donations raised about $180,000. Last year, the Cleveland Italian Film Festival raised $64,000.

Mariani has an information booth at this year's National City Home & Garden Show at the International Exposition Center. Also at the show, open play on two boccie ball courts will raise money for refurbishing the Italian Cultural Garden.

The garden is designed on two levels. The upper level begins with a walkway leading to the large Renaissance fountain that stands in front of a balustrade, from which two winding stone staircases lead down to the lower level.

On the lower level, a tall wall fountain graces a courtyard with circular seating. On either side of the fountain are the faces of famous Italians Giotti, Michelangelo, Petrarca, Verdi and Da Vinci.

Hardscaping repairs include sprucing up sandstone pavement and replacing the bust of Virgil, the Italian poet, which was donated by the Italian government at the opening of the garden.

A new "outdoor museum" of small granite columns with plaques naming famous Italian Nobel Prize winners, famous cultural figures in the arts such as Luciano Pavarotti and Federico Fellini, and other names in literature, science and education.

The garden was formally opened on Oct. 12, 1930, with the joint celebration of Columbus Day and the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of Virgil. Cleveland businessman Philip Garbo, president of the first Italian Cultural Garden Association, was instrumental in raising money for the garden, Mariani says.

In 1930, the Italian government sent the bust of Virgil and in 1932 sent a large block of stone from Monte Grappa in northern Italy, which was placed in the garden to commemorate Italian war veterans of Cleveland who fought on Italian soil in World War I. In 1936, the San Carlos Opera Company presented Italian operas at the garden.It wasn't just a garden, says Mariani, but was "Cleveland's monument to Italy, and dedicated as a symbol of the contribution of Italian culture to American democracy."

The latest completed restoration project was a $60,000 installation of the lampposts in November. Next comes the landscaping. Bulbs were donated from as far away as Livermore, Calif., from Anthony Gazzuolo, the owner of a garden center there who read about the restoration.

Mariani is working hard to raise the money, but she left the planting of the bulbs to volunteers.

"I'm not a gardener," she jokes. "No kidding. I don't like getting dirt under my nails."

Hunter Morrison, director of the Center for Urban and Regional Studies at Youngstown State University and a former Cleveland planning director, serves on the Italian Cultural Garden Foundation board. He lives in a home that was designed by Garbo, and has always had an interest in Garbo's work.

Having worked with the Landmarks Commission, Morrison knows the gardens well. In fact, he helped bring the Chinese and Indian Cultural Gardens to Rockefeller Park, and he can see how Mariani's work with the Italian garden might catch on with others.

"This could be a precursor for other groups making an investment in the cultural gardens," he says. "It could prompt a lot of enthusiasm."

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:    rwashington@plaind.com, 216-999-4427  

 

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