Cleveland Cultural Gardens

The Italian Cultural Garden Foundation is pleased to announce it has reached the halfway mark of the $750,000 Renaissance Restoration Project. Between 2007-2009 restoration of all major infrastructure has been completed with the restoration completed according to the specifications and guidelines for restoration and rehabilitation of a historical cultural landscape.

This was accomplished in major part to the community wide support and generosity of the Cleveland Italian community and recently from new support from donors out of state.

The restoration of the completed hardscape infrastructure include total restoration of the two large Renaissance fountains, installation of nineteen historical lampposts on both levels, (the Italian Cultural Garden is the first cultural garden to have comprehensive lighting),restoration of the two large staircases, new stone balustrade, sandstone pavement repair and the replacement  bust of Virgil, the Roman poet.

Projects currently in progress include a 14 ft. statue of  Dante Alighieri, originally planned in 1930 by the garden’s creator, Philip Garbo, which was never completed and implementation of Phase I of the landscape design generously donated by Ianiro Landscaping of Cleveland.

The Italian community will have an opportunity to donate benches and statues with a bronze plate memorializing a donor or their family name.

In 2008, the Italian Cultural Garden Foundation initiated the  “Viva La Cultura Italiana” cultural concert series  for the general public presenting opera concerts, plays, and instrumental music showcasing Italian arts and culture fulfilling the original intentions of gardens creator. In 2007, opera concerts were brought back after a sixty-eight year absence with over five hundred in attendance last year.

Extensive archives have been initiated filling the gap of the last sixty years. A book is being planned covering newly discovered original plans of projects never completed and about the life of its creator, Philip Garbo gained from the recollections of his 95 year old daughter, and the current historic restoration of the garden, the first since its inception in 1930.

Italian Cultural Garden Foundation –  216-916-7780.