Behind the Scenes: My Own "Giverny" at Villa Minghetti
If you travel to the heart of Tuscany, nestled within the peaceful atmosphere of Villa Minghetti, you will find a hidden corner that is very dear to my heart. It is a beautiful water garden filled with water lilies (ninfee) and lotus flowers, surrounded by lush, vibrant greenery.
As an impressionist artist, this place represents far more than just a passion for plants. It is a living, breathing sanctuary of light and color—a personal sanctuary that directly inspires my daily creative process.
A Tuscan Connection to Claude Monet’s Giverny
It is impossible to stand by a water lily pond and not think of Claude Monet. In the late 19th century, Monet meticulously designed his water garden in Giverny, France, creating a private paradise specifically to study how light interacts with water. He spent the last decades of his life capturing those fleeting reflections on canvas.
In many ways, my water garden at Villa Minghetti is my own Italian Giverny. Just like Monet, I find myself completely fascinated by the ever-changing dialogue between the Tuscan sun, the deep water shadows, and the floating petals. When I look at the water lilies, I am not just looking at flowers; I am looking at pure, shifting color.
Translating the Water's Edge with a Palette Knife
While Monet used delicate, layered brushstrokes to dissolve forms into light, my approach to capturing nature relies on a different kind of energy. I bring these water landscapes to life using a heavy palette knife (spatola) and rich oil paints (colori a olio).
Instead of smooth transitions, I love to apply thick, physical layers of paint directly onto the canvas. This textured, impasto style allows me to sculpt the light. The rough strokes of the palette knife don’t just mimic the surface of the lotus leaves or the ripples of the pond—they capture the raw, vibrant emotion of the moment. The reflections aren’t flat; they have a three-dimensional presence that changes depending on how the light hits the room where the painting hangs.
Bringing the Spirit of the Italian Garden into Your Home
Every time I step out into the garden of Villa Minghetti, with the quiet rustle of the leaves and the bright white blossoms opening on the water, I feel an urgent need to capture that peace.
When a collector acquires one of my original oil paintings of these water landscapes, they aren’t just taking home a piece of canvas. They are welcoming a slice of this private Tuscan paradise—a timeless tradition of finding deep, impressionistic beauty in a single floating leaf, carried forward from Monet’s gardens to the hills of Tuscany.