Italian Renaissance gardens were the admiration of Europe and North America. They revived the classical art of garden making, as well as drawing on medieval literary traditions; but they also developed their own forms and styles, even when they began to borrow back ideas of landscape gardening from England in the late eighteenth century. But until the late nineteenth century Italy was a collection of different states, each of which developed its own kind of garden, subject to climate, situation and culture. It is this diversity that is explored here, in a series of ten essays, each focusing on one locale in order to draw out its special contribution to the Italian garden.