A superb marble statue, double the natural height with the Lionskin on his shoulders and club in hand, in the act of killing the Hydra: this is the description given by the architect Amedeo di Castellamonte, one of the designers of the original Reggia, the one who started it all with the first drawing.

He is talking of something that stands not inside, but outside the Palace, beyond the complex of buildings. You will find it in the Gardens.

It is the Hercules Colossus, an ancient guardian who has now returned home where he belongs, to the place where the Fountain that bears his name has been restored.

The idea is that he is the custodian and guide of the Gardens, now restored to their full glory, and where the Reggia can reflect and duplicate itself, losing its boundaries and blending into the landscape, as the vertical structure transforms into a horizontal living organism.

We say “Gardens”, in the plural, because there are many different gardens here, each following on from the other. It is an archipelago of gardens with flowers, plants, lawns and water features, all changing with the passing of the seasons.

What you will see, as you admire the design and wander through the paths and lanes, is the Low Park and the High Park, the Royal Alley, the English garden, the Rose Garden, the Boschetto della Musica, the Fishpond, the kitchen gardens and orchards, and beyond it all the vast Park of La Mandria, the Gardens of Giuseppe Penone’s fluid sculptures, the installation by Giovanni Anselmo, where the inscription on the granite slabs reads “Where the stars come a span closer”. Once again, the past and the present combine, in preparation for the future. This is what you will see: the landscape you are immersed in looks like a sculpted painting, an animated sculpture, a symphony of embroidered forms and colours. Here, there is no competition between humankind and nature, there is alliance and harmony. In the words of Leopardi “being shipwrecked is sweet to me in this sea”.