Help for a great garden

Hi, friends
I haven't been in touch for some time  because I am more than usually busy.
As some of you already know, recently I was appointed consultant in  a big
Italian garden  south of Rome, La Landriana. This is a very recent  garden
(for Italian standards: it is only 40 years old), created by a nice lady who
did not visit gardens, but read a lot and tried to experiment and find her
own style. And she succeded, oh boy.  Russell Page designed the first bit of
the garden, and afterwards she kept expanding: now the garden is about 20
acres/ 7 hectares, divided in formal and informal garden rooms, and has a
HUGE collection of plants. It was opened to the public some 8 years ago, and
they had a yearly garden fair that was quite successful.
Unfortunately this woman died three years ago and for some time her heirs
did not know what to do: none of them is a gardener. As a result, a period
of neglect followed. Now they decided to give it a try, and this is when I
arrived. I won't bother the whole list with a description of the
horticultural and budget problems I have to face (some of you already have a
clue, eh Trevor?). If any of you want to know about all of this, feel free
to write me.
The point is: to keep the garden going, they have to see  it is worth it. I
keep telling them how wonderful and famous the garden is, and what a legacy,
what a blend of art and nature and all the stuff you can imagine, but what
will really convince them is a good amount of visitors coming. 
It is not really a matter of money, but of feeling that the general public
appreciate their committment. 
And this is the scope of my request of help. I need the efforts of the whole
gardeners grapevine to save this garden.If you know about people who are
coming to Rome and love gardens, please suggest to visit. Give them my
address, telephone and e.mail for information. If you know of a tour
operator who is looking for unusual destinations, please suggest our name.
If you can mention a European specialized nursery who would like to exhibit
in a garden fair that is held in April and visited by the elite of the local
gardener's world, please suggest me their names.
I am currently rewieving the website of the garden, and as soon as it is
ready I will post the address here so that who is interested can have a look
at the place.
Thank you
Alessandra

Alessandra Vinciguerra
Superintendent of the Gardens
American Academy in Rome
via Masina, 5
00153 Roma
tel. 0039.6.5846444
cell.phone 0339.5881651 -Italian traditional tool :)
a.vinciguerra@aarome.org
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