Italian Garden

The Italian Garden truly offers the best of garden landscaping and design. Cast your eye towards the Sugar Loaf Mountain beyond the gardens and enjoy one of the best views in Ireland. The terraces you are standing on were designed in the 1840’s by architect Daniel Robertson and took 100 men over 12 years to build!

Enjoy the formal Italian Garden which is perfectly manicured and notice how each side is symmetric. It’s the perfect vista rolling down to beautiful Triton Lake.

Book Tickets

Enjoy a Virtual Tour of Powerscourt Gardens

The Italianate Terraces

The series of terraces linking the house to the lake were quite a feat to finish and took over twelve years to build with over one hundred labourers required to complete the task! The design of the upper stone terrace nearest the house was influenced by Villa Butera in Sicily. As a young boy, the 7th Viscount was brought out from his school room (aged 7) on 13th October 1843 to lay the first stone in the ground. It would be wonderful to know of the thousands of stones in the terraces, which one it is!

Interestingly, the 7th Viscount did not believe he would live to see the completion of the terraces. While many generations of the Wingfield Family did not live to see the completion of the work undertaken during their lifetime, they approached its development with gusto and enthusiasm and perhaps saw themselves as just one part of the evolution of Powerscourt. It is through their imagination and hard work that we can enjoy the splendour and beauty of Powerscourt today.

Statuary

Enjoy exciting sculptures of Gods and myths including statues of Apollo Belvedere and Diana, collected by the 6th and 7th Lord Powerscourt on their travels to Europe.

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Triton Lake

One of the most striking features of the Italian Gardens is the pair of life sized Winged Horses which watch over the lake. They form part of the family coat of arms and were made by Professor Hugo Hagen in Berlin in 1869. The fountain in this dramatic Lake is based on the fountain in the Piazza Barberini in Rome and completes the splendid vista from the house down to the lake.

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