Presentation of the book “ Di un giardiniere errante” by Ermanno Casasco

On Thursday, April 10, 2014, the Arnaldo Pomodoro Foundation hosts the presentation of the book Di un giardiniere errante by Ermanno Casasco, with the author in conversation with Marinella Mandelli and Nani Prina. Published by Maestri di Giardino Editori (Vezza d'Alba 2014), Di un giardiniere errante includes a preface by Arnaldo Pomodoro and an introduction by Nani Prina.

The landscape architect Ermanno Casasco has designed and built gardens in the United States, the Caribbean, Australia, Russia, the Middle East, and North Africa. Born in the Parma Apennines, he trained in England and California, always maintaining Milan as his base, the city that became his home and the stage for his early experiences as a gardener in the 1970s. For 25 years, he has been overseeing the project, care, and expansion of the Negombo Thermal Park in Ischia, while his activity in Turkey has been particularly intense, where he designed his first public park and finally created his private garden. He has collaborated with numerous journalistic and television outlets and has taught both in Italy and abroad.

Casasco says: "When I approach a garden, I always ask myself under what form the serpent hides. It’s not the climate, nor the wind, nor the rain or the dryness of the soil: natural elements are obstacles that can be overcome. What cannot be defeated is the other nature, that of the human being with all its useless rules, paradoxical constraints, the 'green' envy of those who cannot have that garden, who lack the means to create it, or are simply frustrated bureaucrats. […] In optimal conditions, where the work is made easier in every way, it is instead 'my' serpent that awakens, making me dissatisfied with what I’ve created. I no longer have anything or anyone to blame, nor any excuses. The serpent then pushes me to seek new challenges and other reckless experiences: Iraqi Kurdistan, for example, is certainly not the safest place to go."