Let’s talk about Genesis—how did your story begin?
F: My passion for the mountains, forests, and the desire to share these wonderful settings, along with my curiosity and respect for nature, led me to embark on a journey in the world of landscape design, creation, and ornamental plant care. In 2000, I fulfilled a lifelong dream: opening my first nursery to cultivate the plants that would later become the protagonists of my gardens.
The desire to grow, my love for the job, and the inspiring energy of plants quickly propelled the business forward. By April 2005, I inaugurated a new nursery. In the following years, my pursuit of professional excellence led me to open a small design office within the nursery.
In 2019, Matilde Tonelli joined me in garden design and landscape studies, and last year, Brigitta Balestri also became part of the team. United by our passion for naturalistic gardens, we focus on nature as our guiding force, driven by the desire to create spaces where people can put down roots and experience deep emotions.
The ambition to create a place where people feel in harmony with the natural environment is now taking shape in the design of a large educational garden connected to the nursery, set to open to the public in autumn 2025.
How does nature inspire your projects and lifestyle?
We share the desire and need to feel part of the nature that surrounds us, often immersing ourselves in it. The sensation of that fleeting yet profound moment of connection with life and our true selves is what we strive to convey in our gardens, drawing from our own experiences.
We believe in the power of wonder and curiosity—the same emotions we feel when observing nature as it grows and changes throughout the year. This is our nourishment, the guiding value behind our designs, and what we hope to offer to those who turn to us.
How do you imagine your “mental landscape” when you create? Are there real or imaginary places that guide you?
Each of us has a personal bond with specific landscapes. Flavio finds inspiration in mountain settings, forests, undergrowth, prairies, and heaths—places where he often seeks refuge and a chance to reconnect with nature, his inner self and those around him.
Matilde is guided by evocative landscapes from her travels—images recalled through the senses, the emotions stirred by certain places, and the landscapes of imagination, shaped by stories read in books.
When designing, Brigitta immerses herself in the rolling hills of Maremma—arid land, warm wind, shades of blue blending sea and sky, merging with leaves and branches. The contrast between ancient beauty and new growth, between scattered stones and bold blossoms, becomes a hymn to life and beauty.
Who are the people who have most inspired you artistically and professionally?
Great landscape designers such as Piet Oudolf, Nigel Dunnett, and Adam Bloom inspire us in the approach we use to create gardens where plants are the true protagonists. From them, we learn how to combine different plants and use perennials species to amaze with textures, layers, blooms, and seasonality.
Sarah Price, for her meticulous attention to botanical detail, which brings elegance and sophistication to landscapes. Dan Pearson, for his ability to capture historical moments through plants in dialogue with architecture.
Gilles Clément’s perspective has also been a major inspiration, offering insights into landscape dynamism and unity, reminding us of the impact we have on our planet.
What does Avant gardening mean to you?
It means drawing inspiration from nature and natural landscapes to shape our vision of a garden—one that is sustainable, adapted to the available resources, and harmoniously integrated into its context, capable of thriving and even surviving on its own. A garden that brings joy to care for, without being enslaved by perfection—a garden, and a form of gardening, that embraces life.
An Avant gardening involves reconnecting with nature, working to recreate naturalistic settings. It means avoiding synthetic materials whenever possible, extending our reconnection with nature in every way.
How do you practice the search for wonder?
Simplicity. Finding wonder in the little things, in the landscapes we pass through, in chasing a butterfly, in the scent of a flower.
What emotion or feeling do you hope people experience when engaging with your work?
A sense of awakening, a rediscovery—through the most primal senses—of our deep connection with nature, a bond that has always been part of humanity but that we have forgotten.
A return to being moved by simple things—flowers, scents, shapes, colors, the sound of water and birds—the sheer act of observing the nature around us.
Ultimately, a feeling of regeneration—breaking away from the media noise and the frenzy of daily life to realign our energy with nature.
Five words that you closely associate with the concept of the Garden of Eden
Journey, rediscovery, desire, respect, connection.
Bio
Flavio Miretti began his professional career as a green space maintenance specialist in 1999. In 2000, he opened his first nursery and started his journey as a nurseryman and garden designer.
Matilde Tonelli became a Garden Designer after earning a Master’s degree in Environmental Biology and completing a Master’s program in Garden Design. In her work, she combines her love for botany and native landscapes with the desire to create life stories within gardens.
Brigitta Balestri grew up surrounded by the colors and scents of the Maremma, developing a deep passion for plants and landscapes rich in history and life. She completed her university studies in Landscape Architecture, discovering the art, research, and dedication that form the foundation of garden design.