Last week I was in Pistoia for a special and really unconventional visit. I had a guided tour to Rose Barni, a really unique roses’ nursery.

The roses

The Barni family has been working with roses for over 5 generations starting their business in 1882. Since then they became one of the most important producers of roses in Europe playing an important role in the research of new breeds of roses, that won several important prizes.

Among them the Golden Rose prize, that is the Oscar for roses, for the Suni rose or the beautiful Rita Levi Montalcini rose named after the famous Nobel Prize for Medicine. For her birthday the Barni family sent 100 roses to celebrate her 100 birthday and now these roses are planted within the research center forming the molecule she discovered.

Other peculiarities are the Barbara Streisand rose, that smells incredibly good, as well as the Accademia rose that won the Corona della Regina Teodolinda prize for the best smell, the Renaissance rose, striped in white and fuchsia that was the most beautiful Italian rose in 1990 at the International contest in Modena.

Details

Rose Barni opens from Monday to Saturday from 8am to 12 am and from 2.30pm to 5.30pm. From June 15th to September 15th Saturday and Sunday is closed. I recommend a visit if you love roses and flowers, because Rose Barni has incredibly stunning roses and you can get lost in this beauty and good smell (and passion for their roses!). In addition they will explain every rose history and suggest you which is the best for your garden. They also ship worldwide 😉