| In 1948 English composer William Walton married the beautiful Argentine Susana Gil. He was 46 and she 22. In 1956 they bought land on Ischia, most of it a stone quarry. Lady Walton later wrote, 'To make an exotic garden out of a lava riverbed needed wild dreams strengthened by blissful ignorance.' The gardens were designed by Russell Page and contain hundreds of rare plant species from around the world. Ischia is a lovely island, with long sandy beaches, hot mineral springs, vineyards covering the slopes of Monte Epomeo, and the poetic ruins of an Aragonese castle. |