Around The Rock
Lizard belvedere

Around the Rock unfolds as a series of terraces set on rock gardens, each framing selected views to read the Verdura Valley — a coastal river landscape in southern Sicily — and to observe the ruins of Castello di Poggiodiana.

At first glance, the castle draws eye. Beyond this immediate focus, broader structure of the valley gradually emerges. The river’s meander shapes a contrasted landscape : on one side, a gentle, fertile slope planted with citrus groves ; on the other, a steep, eroded hillside marked by yellow tuff cliffs, where dry-adapted vegetation takes hold.

Within this arid, rocky environment, lizards find shelter. Their habitat becomes a starting point for the project — a way of engaging with the landscape at ground level, moving slowly through rock gardens and large views on surrounding landscape.

Each sequence frames a specific relationship between valley, cultivated land, and castle. Around the Rock proposes a fragmented and attentive reading of the panorama.
The project was built in one week with students from DARCH, the Palermo University of Architecture, as part of a series of initiatives developed for Agrigento, Italian Capital of Culture. The collaboration took the form of an intensive workshop, where students were directly engaged in an in situ design process, adapting design to the site. Guided by Wagon Landscaping, they worked at the scale of making, gaining a concrete understanding of how a garden is constructed within a short timeframe.

This hands-on approach fostered a “hand-scale” practice, where the project continuously adapts to site conditions, and where design remains open-ended for as long as possible — extending into the act of building itself, until the moment it takes shape on the ground.

« We students remember those days spent building the garden as one of the most beautiful experiences we ever had. We feel truly lucky to have been part of such a meaningfull project, and we are so happy to see that now, with spring, garden has burst into wunderfull colors and is still being cared with love »

CLIENT
Art et Jardins Haut de France
Agrigento, Italian capital of Culture 25

TEAM PROJECT
Wagon Landscaping (leader)
DARCH_University of Architecture of Palermo

SURFACE
2 000 m²

Budget
60 000 euros

Delivery date
15/10/25

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