Orto sul Colle dell'Infinito, Recanati

The Orto sul Colle dell'Infinito, the 'Garden on the Hill of the Infinite', is a quiet hillside garden in the town of Recanati, in the Macerata province of the Marche, forever linked to one of the most celebrated poems in the Italian language. It was from this spot, beside the former convent of Santo Stefano and within sight of his family home, that the young poet Giacomo Leopardi gazed out over the rolling hills and wrote 'L'Infinito' in 1819, a meditation on infinity and the sweetness of losing oneself in boundless thought. The garden is cared for by the FAI, Italy's national trust, which has restored it as a place of contemplation that preserves the view and atmosphere that moved Leopardi. A visit takes in the garden, the panoramic terrace looking toward the Apennines and the Adriatic, and an interpretive space exploring the poem and the poet's life. Recanati itself is a graceful hill town that holds the Leopardi family palazzo, still owned by his descendants, with its remarkable historic library of around twenty thousand volumes where the precocious young Giacomo educated himself. Admission to the Colle dell'Infinito is €10 for adults and €5 for children aged 6 to 18, with under-fives and FAI members free; a €2 discount applies to those holding a Casa Leopardi ticket. Opening hours are seasonal, longer in summer. Allow around an hour to an hour and a half, more if combined with the palazzo and a walk through the town's literary sights, which include the square evoked in Leopardi's poem 'Il sabato del villaggio'.