The Park of Monsters at Bomarzo
In a wood in central Italy, a prince filled a garden with giant stone monsters, a tilted house and a gaping mouth you can walk into. No one is sure why.
What was reported
The Sacro Bosco, 'sacred wood', near Bomarzo was made for Pier Francesco Orsini, a nobleman and soldier, in the 1550s and after. He had the boulders of the valley carved into huge sculptures: a giant tearing another apart, a dragon fighting lions, an elephant, a sea monster, and the Mouth of Hell, a vast screaming face with a room inside.
Nearby is a small house built on purpose at a tilt, so visitors lose their balance. Inscriptions around the park speak of wonder and grief. After Orsini, the wood was forgotten and overgrown for centuries, until it was rediscovered in the mid-20th century, when artists such as Salvador Dalí came to see it.
Explanations offered
Historians think Orsini made it partly in grief after his wife's death, and as an allegorical journey, perhaps based on poems of his time. The inscription on the Mouth of Hell reads 'every thought flies'. Exactly what he meant has never been settled.
- When
- Made in the 1550s
- Where
- Bomarzo, Lazio, Italy
- Witnesses
- Visitors since the 1500s
- Status
- Purpose debated
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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