Traditional Terra Cotta & Garden Italiano In Epcot’s Italy Pavilion

I had a wonderful time touring the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival, the displays throughout the Park fill the air with fragrance, and offer ideas for bringing a little color and beauty into your gardens at home. I'm not a great gardener, but the container gardens found in Epcot's Italy pavilion were just the thing I needed to inspire me. This summer, I'll be bringing a bit of Garden Italiano's finesse to my own home.


Garden Italiano At Epcot's Italy Pavilion


From fresh tomato sauces to your favorite pizza toppings Garden Italiano recreates a Tuscan kitchen garden with everything you need to create a delicious Italian meal. This is one of my favorite examples of how all you need to make a working garden for your kitchen is just a few pots. I have a few pots that sit on my front steps and every summer they're filled with the fresh herbs I use most frequently when I cook. Garden Italiano takes that idea and creates an inspiring masterpiece.


Mix Culinary Pots With Floral Ones For More Garden Texture
This Rosemary Was Huge!


Speaking of pots - the containers showcased throughout the Italy pavilion represent some of the finest handcrafted terra cotta in the world. Galestro Terra Cotta is made from a clay only found in a small area in Tuscany. The thick, sticky raw material is key to the richly colored containers prized for their durability, texture, and high resistance to frost.


Galestro Terra Cotta Is Crafted By Hand
Use Different Shapes And Sizes Of Pots To Create Texture


Another extraordinary example of fine terra cotta on display during the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival is Impruneta Terra Cotta. These pots are true works of art, designed to be handed down from generation to generation and said be the best terra cotta in the world. Impruneta can withstand tempratures of -20F due to the clay's unique mineral content and unique drying process. These classic jewels of the Tuscan countryside commonly cost upwards of $400 for a 20" vase.


Impruneta Terra Cotta Pots Become Heirlooms
Handcrafted Terra Cotta Is A Work Of Art


As guests walk from the Garden Italiano, further into the pavilion, the terra cotta containers are planted with a rainbow of colorful flowers bursting into bloom around the square and across the bridges of Epcot's Venice. It makes sense though doesn't it? There's not a lot of ground space in a city built on stilts in the water.

The topiary on display here depicts the stars of the Disney classic 'Lady and the Tramp.' They sit outside the door of Enoteca Castello amongst a spectacular terra cotta garden with flowering plants of all shapes and sizes. It's a romantic scene, in an enviable local.


Lady And The Tramp Topiary Surrounded By Terra Cotta Gardens
Flowers And Vegetables Can Both Be Grown In Terra Cotta


If you're headed to the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival this year, don't miss stopping in Italy to check out the colorful floral display, the fresh culinary plantings, and the spectacular traditional containers.