Italian Cultural Garden executive director is on a campaign for authentic restoration

Joyce Mariani is good at turning visions into realities.

She’s the executive director of the Italian Cultural Garden, a board member for the Cultural Gardens Federation and – as if she’s not busy enough – the executive director of the Cleveland Italian Film Festival. Though her passions obviously revolve around Italy, her latest garden vision is more global.

“My dream is to host something like a one- world day where all the gardens can hook up to their mother countries,” Mariani said. She means over the Internet. People all over the world would be able to enjoy live events and commune with Clevelanders over Wi-Fi video feeds.

That’s still a few years away, but Mariani loves the energy (and dollars) being poured into the birth and restoration of the gardens along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. There’s been $2 million of development just in the past five years, and Mariani said that will increase to $4 million once new restoration projects are completed.

Right now, Mariani is focused on Italy. That is to say, on the Italian Cultural Garden.

In her restoration efforts, she’s manufacturing an Italian landscape that’s almost as authentic as the real thing.

“It’s not just patching, so to speak,” Mariani said. “All the work we do must be done according to specified guidelines. It takes a lot of research and a lot of study to be done properly.”

She began in 2007 “on a wing and a prayer,” with the intent of constructing a renaissance fountain modeled after the one in Villa Medici in Rome.

That project alone set her back $20,000. The complete restoration costs $750,000, of which $360,000 is already raised and allocated. The Italian Garden is the first with comprehensive lighting – 19 lampposts – and the first to “go green,” meaning no more pesticides from the City.

The next major physical alterations will be a new quadrant with a miniature pantheon, around which 12 granite columns will celebrate Italian cultural figures. Also on deck is a 14- foot bronze statue of Dante (who wrote “The Divine Comedy”).

All this costs money, of course. Fortunately, Mariani’s enterprising fundraising knows no bounds. She started the Cleveland Italian Film Festival three years ago in conjunction with the garden redevelopment. Much of her fundraising dollars come from that annual event.

She also solicits for donations.

“It’s difficult raising money for parks and gardens,” she said, “but looking back, the key is getting people tapped into your dream. Then they get excited about it. Really anything is possible if you have great passion.”

What many residents are passionate about are the events Mariani has reintegrated into the Garden’s programming. After a 66-year hiatus, last year’s “Opera in the Italian Garden” night attracted close to 800 attendants from across the City.

“It’s become like Central Park with the concerts,” Mariani said. “We have about 250 chairs set up, but people come to picnic and have a good time.”

Later this year, Mariani wants to host a poetry reading and an orchestral performance of the “Fountains of Rome.”

So if you’re planning a trip to Italy in the near future, consider canceling it. An afternoon in the Garden would be much less expensive.

By Sam Allard

NV online editor