The Borges Labyrinth, dedicated to the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986), at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini is reopening to the public following a restoration project supported by PwC Italia. Visitors will be able to explore it through guided tours organized by VisitCini. Designed by the British architect Randoll Coate across an area of 2,300 square metres, the Borges Labyrinth is composed of more than 3,000 boxwood plants and is considered one of the most beautiful and evocative labyrinths in Italy.
Over the centuries, this area has served many different purposes: from an ancient Portuguese cemetery and the Benedictine monks’ medicinal garden to a Napoleonic ammunition depot and, in the nineteenth century, quarters for Italian troops. In 2004, after a long period of neglect, musicologist and Director of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini’s Early Music Seminars, Pedro Memelsdorff, proposed to María Kodama Borges that the project be presented to the Foundation, which enthusiastically embraced the idea.
The restoration work began with the removal of 165 damaged boxwood plants and a comprehensive inspection of the irrigation system. Soil improvement included fertilization and the addition of approximately two cubic metres of suitable topsoil to promote the healthy establishment of the new plantings. New boxwood plants of the same species were then planted and carefully pruned to blend seamlessly with the existing shape of the labyrinth. The second phase of the project also introduced two major improvements to accessibility: the removal of excess gravel from the entrance path and the creation of accessible routes designed to accommodate visitors with reduced mobility.
The garden labyrinth was conceived by architect Randoll Coate, inspired by one of Jorge Luis Borges’ most celebrated short stories, The Garden of Forking Paths. In Borges’ work, the labyrinth becomes an archetype—a way of representing the nature of the universe and humanity’s uncertainty in the face of existence itself. It embodies both the fear of being lost and the hope that every labyrinth possesses an underlying design, an architecture and a logic that allows one to enter, lose one’s way and ultimately find the exit.
Coate’s labyrinth takes the form of an open book, scattered with objects that evoke symbols central to Borges’ imagination: a walking stick, mirrors, an hourglass, a tiger, and a giant question mark.
The labyrinth will reopen to visitors from mid-July.
