Tarot Garden: The Secret Behind Italy’s Most Enchanting Sculpture Garden

We are in the Tuscan Maremma, on the outskirts of Capalbio. From afar, a splash of vivid colors appears on the hillside — a mirage breaking the quiet of the countryside. It was here, in 1979, that sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle began shaping a dream that would take nearly twenty years to complete: an art garden inspired by the Tarot, where each arcana comes to life through monumental, visionary sculptures. The Tarot Garden is considered one of the most beautiful gardens in Italy.

Twenty-two works, like the twenty-two Major Arcana, unfold along the path in a kind of symbolic treasure hunt, where every turn reveals a hidden message — a fragment of thought left by the artist in almost invisible places. Among cascading fountains, mirrors that multiply the light, and glazed mosaics reflecting the sky, visitors move through a dreamlike universe that feels born of a fairy tale or an alchemical vision.

A journey through art and nature, where wonder is always one step ahead — come discover it with us.

Crossing the threshold you will be at the foot of a small hill, you will have two possibilities: follow the recommended route, which gradually climbs towards the hill or let yourself be carried away by your intuition and your curiosity towards the colored sculptures, a little hidden by the trees or by the small clues left by the artist. Each of which will give you a message. If, on the other hand, it is a hot day, let yourself be attracted by the gush of the fountains.

The Tarot Garden is regarded as a masterpiece of surreal architecture and monumental sculpture. Saint Phalle’s artworks, built with complex iron and concrete structures and covered in mosaics of mirrors and ceramics, become true architectural and sculptural forms. It is a work of environmental art, where sculpture, landscape, and spirituality merge into a single living organism — an example of sustainable art in spirit, reconciling humanity and nature.

French American Niki de Saint Phalle (1930 - 2002) was a painter, sculptor, and filmmaker. She was a rebellious spirit, sparkling eyes, and a very lively intelligence. Since she was a child, she was expelled from the schools she attended, she invented an art that many defined as feminist. She is the artist of the famous Stravinsky fountain, in front of the Georges Pompidou center in Paris. The Tarot Garden is her last work and her most complex.

"... My garden is a place of meditation, a place away from the crowds and the pressure of time ... A place that makes the eyes and the heart rejoice" this is how Niki describes her park, a place that would heal anyone's spirit would visit him. The Tarot Garden is a particular example of Art Garden, an encouragement to make your dreams come true, whatever they may be.

Niki de Saint Phalle personally followed the work of the park flanked by a team of workers and sometimes by the collaboration of artists, first and foremost her husband Jean Tinguely (Swiss sculpture) and among others the Italian ceramist Venera Finocchiaro.

To maintain constant contact with the works in progress, for several years Niki lived inside one of the sculptures, the most impressive and representative: the Empress-sphinx, placed in a dominant position over the entire garden. A woman's face with a shapely leonine body from which two large colored breasts stand out, in one Niki had placed her bedroom, in the other a bathroom. Then we find a kitchen equipped with all appliances and a dining room. The walls of all the rooms are covered with minute mirror mosaic tiles that reflect everything that comes near them. Outside the sculpture of the Empress-sphinx is a rudimentary wooden table that probably hosted Niki's summer dinners in the company of her friends. 

Niki for her Tarot Garden, follows the strong inspiration she had after a visit to Antoni Gaudí's Parc Güell in Barcelona, later strengthened by a visit to the Bomarzo Monsters’s Park in the province of Viterbo, the Sacred Wood created by Pirro Ligorio in 1547, commissioned by Prince Orsini who had dedicated it to his beloved wife.

The suggestions received from the visit to the two parks, the first for the colors and lines, the second for its symbolic meaning, settle in Niki's soul and come to fruition only years later following the meeting of Saint Phalle with the photographer Marella Caracciolo, wife of Gianni Agnelli, who, after listening to her wonderful project, provides her with a two-hectare site in the Agnelli estate in the Tuscan Maremma, which would later become the Tarot Garden.

The Tarot Garden is open only from 1st April to 15th October, from 2.30pm to 7.30pm. An ideal stop for a trip or to start discovering this region, perhaps with a road trip in Tuscany.

If you arrive before opening, we recommend a lunch at Ultima Spiaggia (Chiarone), a choice of buffet lunch, honest prices and tasty dishes with local ingredients such as very fresh fried fish or couscous, lots of vegetables too, if instead you come after the visit, you can enjoy an aperitif watching the setting sun and stay for dinner at the restaurant.

The Tarot Garden in Capalbio is open daily during the high season (April – October) from 2:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., with last entry at 6:15 p.m.

Tickets are preferably purchased online on the official website of the Tarot Garden to secure admission within the desired time slot; on-site purchase is also possible, subject to availability. Visitors are advised to arrive at least 15 minutes before the reserved time for entry procedures.

The Tarot Garden is located in Garavicchio, Pescia Fiorentina, in the province of Grosseto, Tuscany — the wonderful region that enchants the world. If you are travelling by car, take the Chiarone exit from the SS1 highway and follow the signs for Pescia Fiorentina; soon you’ll start seeing road signs pointing to the Garden. Upon arrival, you’ll find a large free parking area.

If you prefer travelling by train, get off at Capalbio Scalo station and continue by taxi — unless you’re an avid walker and wish to cover the ten kilometers on foot! A charming alternative for sporty travelers is to take the train with your bicycle and ride from the station to the Garden; on regional trains, bicycles travel free of charge. The nearest airports are Rome Fiumicino – Leonardo da Vinci and Florence Peretola.