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Saint Petersburg. A Royal Dream on Ice
Sezione 1
Sezione 2
Summer Garden
Alexander Pushkin. 1834
PLAY ME
"Alioscia! Alioscia!"...
My dear Arina's voice comes to me as I run with my rag ball
on the soft grass of the Summer Garden, even though the flooding before I was born caused considerable damage to the structure, which, according to my family, was quite beautiful compared to what it is today. To me, it still looks like paradise on earth, so much so that in my favourite novel Evgenij Onegin, I liked to include a nice walk along the Neva in the Garden,
together with my boyfriend, wrapped in existential boredom. For the construction of the Summer Garden, Peter 'the Great' was inspired by Versailles. It is an architectural and natural complex, located on a small island, bordered by the Neva and the fountain canals. It is a classic example of a French garden, centred on symmetry,
water features and dotted with artificial lakes, the ultimate expression of Russian Baroque. The streets of the park are dotted with finely turned shrubs. I like to recall a very romantic legend: a British lord came to visit the city during the White Nights. His ship sailed up the Neva and stopped near the Summer Garden.
Fascinated by the beauty of the park, he refused to go ashore, claiming it would be pointless, as he had seen nothing more beautiful in his life. "In St Petersburg I saw what I wanted: the fence of the Summer Garden during the White Nights," he said. Afterwards he returned to England, satiated with such beauty.
Sezione 3
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