Tuin van de Villa Pallavicini in Pegli met links de Tempel van Diana en rechts een pagode c. 1870 - 1890

Celestino Degoix created this photograph of the Tuin van de Villa Pallavicini in Pegli, using a camera, sometime between 1825 and 1902. It captures a moment where the East meets the West in a carefully curated landscape. The image invites us to consider the history of cultural exchange and representation, particularly the Western fascination with and interpretation of Eastern aesthetics. The Pallavicini gardens, with their deliberate placement of a pagoda alongside classical Western structures like the Temple of Diana, reflect the 19th-century’s interest in exoticism. At the time, travel and colonialism facilitated the movement of objects and ideas, often resulting in the appropriation and recontextualization of non-Western cultural elements in European settings. What does it mean to construct a garden that borrows from different cultural traditions? The emotional landscape of such a place, designed for leisure and contemplation, speaks to the complex interplay between identity, power, and cultural appreciation.