An elegant, rural garden in Italy from designer Cristina Mazzucchelli

There’s an over-used, often joked-about expression some Italians use when they want to make polite conversation about the weather, but don’t really have anything particularly original to say. You hear it most when the first frosts come abruptly, late in the year. “Autumn doesn’t even exist anymore,” they say.

It might surprise them to see the season is alive and well at the country retreat of garden designer Cristina Mazzucchelli, who is better known for creating small but chic, modern, balcony and roof gardens for her clients in nearby Milan. Ten years ago, she set about restoring a 19th-century stone farmhouse tucked into the rolling hills of Monferrato. The property, which enjoys sweeping views of the surrounding Piedmont countryside, had been abandoned for years before she asked architect Carlo Alberto Maria Caire to oversee renovations

“We were originally confronted with a bare site of no-nonsense agricultural practicality,” Cristina explains. “Outside, a wide concrete slab stretched the whole length of the house. It was used to park tractors and meant to keep dirt from getting in the farmhouse. Beyond that, there were only mostly dead or dying fruit trees and the rabbit cage. I saved the few trees I could.”

Sunsets and even autumn itself seem to last longer at Cascina Monferrato in Piedmont, the country home of garden designer Crisitina Mazzucchelli. Gravel and paved paths lead from the stone farmhouse through the garden to the swimming pool, discreetly tucked away in the lowest, most private corner of the property. Cristina kept many of the trees already on the site, such as the fig in the centre and the Robinia pseudoacacia on the right, but has added new trees, including the fruitless mulberry trees pruned into parasol shapes near the house and the golden-leaved Gleditsia triacanthos f. inermis ‘Sunburst’.

Neatly trimmed cypresses and umberella-pruned mulberries combine with the geometric squares of soft perennial planting to give the gravel garden in front of the house an air of relaxed formality. A small rabbit house, which has been transformed into a tool shed, hides a pergola-covered informal dining area.

Cristina has preserved the garden’s agricultural genius loci by leaving whatever fruit trees she could save to stand where they have been for decades, and adding some carefully chosen antique items, such as a wooden wheelbarrow, a glass demijohn and a zinc washbasin.

At the back of the old rabbit house, a small pergola creates a secluded eating area with views out over the surrounding fields. From here, steps wind down to the swimming pool area flanked by ancient fruit trees and low-growing grasses and shrubs, including Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii.

Gently sloping steps lead down to the swimming pool area from the hot tub, sheltered by a small pergola covered in Wisteria floribunda ‘Kokuryu’ and Clematis armandi. Each step has a low wooden rise made of antique beams and a long terracotta run made of recycled pavements from the antique farmhouse and Piedmont stone called pietra di Luserna, which were patiently and creatively paved by Gabriele Giraldo.

Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’ shrub surrounded by soft grasses, including Stipa tenuissima and Cortaderia selloana ‘White Feather’, helps to enclose the swimming pool area. The strength of this garden’s design lies in its restrained palette and conservative choices. Instead of experimenting with new cultivars, Cristina filled her borders with tested and trustworthy stalwarts, such as Pseudodictamnus mediterraneus, Echinacea purpurea and other perennials that can take the Italian heat and dry conditions.

Cristina’s garden is proof that the Italian autumn, fortunately, does still exist, and, at least here in this hilly paradise of Piedmont, can last from September all through November; heavenly, golden and long.

Here's more on making your garden look great through autumn

Find out more about Cristina’s work at cristinamazzucchelli.com