Additional Learning Resources for The Build Your Masterpiece Class | Adventures in Italy: Adventure 6: Overview + Lesson 1: G is for Garden + Italian Garden Spotlight: Villa di Castello

Overview: Welcome to Tuscany + G is for Garden

Within Adventure 6 we will be learning about Renaissance gardens in Florence and the Lemons that grow there. The Villa de Castello is one of the oldest gardens, and was created in the 16th Century. It also has a collection of many different kinds of Lemon Tress, that have been cherished and cultivated over hundreds of years.

This Adventure is Lemon-tastic because we have also included an additional Unit Study all about the Life Cycle of a Lemon for you to enjoy as well as Lemon Inspired Art Projects that encourage the use of the 7 Elements of Art, including Parts of a Lemon Tree, Parts of a Lemon, worksheets, poetry copy work, recipes, crafts and more!

Optional Books + Read Alouds

When Grandma Gives You a Lemon Tree by Jamie L.B. Deenihan

The Curious Garden by Peter Brown - Read Aloud

Listen to The Curious Garden Song by Emily Arrow:

Trevor by Jim Averbeck

Nope, No Lemons by Rafee Jajou

The Red Lemon by Rob Staake

Under the Lemon Moon by Edith Hope Fine

Lola Plants a Garden by Anna Macuinn

Basic Art Supplies:

a studio scrapbook

white paper + a color printer

construction paper

scissors + glue + ruler

pencil + eraser

markers + oil pastels

watercolor paints + watercolor pencil crayons

Lemons

Watercolor paper

Italian Garden Spotlight: Villa di Castello in Tuscany Italy

Italian Gardens are known for their works of art, beauty, harmony and balance. When Cosimo, the young Duke of Tuscany, was only 17 years old he had The Villa de Castello's gardens designed to announce a new golden age for Florence.

This garden would represent 'good government'  as well as happiness and prosperity to Tuscany, and in 1537, the garden began it's journey of becoming the home to the finest citrus collection in Europe.

At this time the city of Florence was a creative hub for artistic expression, and they had the idea that a garden was a piece of art that could express power and happiness. They have continued to cultivate lemon trees at the Villa di Castello, with many different types of lemons. It has been through exploration, discovery and a love for science and art that this Medic Lemon Tree Collection has been preserved and cared for. We will soon learn more about the Lemon in coming lessons!

The key requirements for a true Renaissance garden need to have; a division of equal compartments, parallel lines leading to a focal point, which is usually a sculpture, as well as pattern, symmetry, and trees plannted in rows. They also love to have water of some kind, such as a fountain or stream. Scan our QR Code to watch the Additional Learning Resources for this Italian Garden Spotlight.

Watch these videos below to see this beautiful Garden In Tuscany, Villa di Castello:

Enjoy one of the best, detailed video of the Villa di Castello out there, from Monty Don’s Italian Garden’s Series found on Netflix. This series really showcases Italian Gardens so beautifully. Use this video to learn the history of Florence, Gardens and much more! The Garden we are featuring here is about 6 minutes in.

Watch the video below of a 3D Tour of the Villas of Medici in Tuscany - Which one is the Villa di Castello in this video:

Art Project: Color Your Own Italian Garden

We have learned all about the beautiful Italian garden at the Villa di Castello, and its lemons. All design starts with a plan, and the Italian Renaissance Garden Designers would utilize geometry and mathematics to create a balance and harmony within their gardens. I want to enhance the simplicity of geometic shapes found within the Villa di Castello's gardens with our next art project and coloring page. This page can be printed 'and cut along the edges, and pieced together to create a large pattern art piece that can be made by a group, family or single student. Let's get started!

Supplies Needed:

paper

markers, crayons, watercolor paints, etc

Steps:

1. Print the coloring page below, 'scale to fit'. You can print 4 or more for each child to create a large repeating pattern.

2. Encourage your student to color the shapes in their own creative way. Each page can be colored with a different range of color pallets.

3. Play a game of spot the shapes in the garden: how may circles, squares and triangles can you find?

4. In the center of each garden is a focal point, which is usually a fountain, and the plants planted would be trees, shrubs, glowers, herbs, fruit trees such as lemons and oranges, as well as vegetables too. It would depend on the the garden and time period.

5. When completed, cut along the edges of the page, to create a seamless connection between the other pages.

Language Arts Connections + Discussion Questions

1. What type of plants would you want in your Villa's Garden?

2. How would you want to feel when you stand in your garden?

3. What types of activities would you want to do in your garden?

4. In what ways have you been inspired from learnng about Renaissance Gardens?

Garden Schooling Units to Pair with this Adventure:

We have included our Life Cycle of a Lemon Unit Study, inspired by the Medici Lemon Collection at the Villa di Castello.

Now is a great time to add that unit in! Life Cycle of a Lemon, from seed to mature tree.

The Following Art Projects are included in your Adventure:

Parts of a Lemon

Art Appreciation: The Lemon Paintings by Bartolomeo Bimbi

Still-Life Paintings of Lemons Art Project

Parts of a Lemon Craft + Printable - You can enjoy this art project using watercolor paints, and the lemon juice! You can also have younger students color this in with any marker, or crayon they like.

We have also included our 7 Elements of Art Booklet, that is also found in our Masterpiece Alphabet, which is another wonderful recommend learning pack to mix + match with this adventure, as it was created to support the foundation of Art for your students learning at home.

Plus our Bonus Tuscan Beekeeper Spotlight and additional art project and worksheets.

Complete the Adventure with a Traditional Italian Recipe: Sticky Lemon Drop Cookies. Find the recipe for that in our Adventures in Italy 6 Lesson plans, and scan the QR code for additional resources for it.

Please share your Italy Masterpieces with us on Instagram, for your chance to win an Adventure of your choice. We draw a winner each month, through May to August, 2020.