André Heller Botanical Garden – Gardone Riviera

A plant kingdom where varieties from all over the world and artistic sculptures blend: André Heller Botanical Garden is a true paradise created thanks to the dedication of its founder, Arturo Hruska, who was so in love with the beauty of Lake Garda that he devoted over 60 years of his life to this magical place.

André Heller Botanical Garden: a one-of-a-kind Eden

André Heller Botanical Garden in Gardone Riviera is much more than a simple collection of plants, flowers, and trees: plants from all over the world and all climate areas can be seen here, for a grand total of 3,000 different species which now coexist in harmony in an unparalleled and valuable environment.

As you enter, you will find yourself immersed in an almost supernatural dimension. Along the paths your eyes will meet contemporary sculptures, streams, lily pads, and artificial ponds arranged to create an engaging setting where Lake Garda’s beauty and mild climate play a key role.

We strongly recommended that you take some time to relax along the trail: benches and low walls are waiting for you to admire all the beauty of the vegetation capable of creating unrivalled scenery for a truly unforgettable sensory experience.

André Heller Botanical Garden, from the doctor to the artist

The uniqueness of Lake Garda, with its mild Mediterranean climate and blue waters, had been known since ancient times. At the beginning of the 20th century, naturalist doctor and dentist Arturo Hruska left Austria and his job with the Czar family to move to Gardone Riviera after he fell in love with the beauty of this region.

Passionate about travel, nature, and gardens, he found here the ideal location to create his personal terraced botanical garden. He immediately added plants that he encountered during his numerous explorations.

Only another person with the same level of creativity and passion for nature and travel could have fostered this great vision: in 1988, Austrian artist André Heller acquired the land and further improved the site by adding contemporary works of art and stunning scenic effects, which at the same time harmoniously blend with the surrounding landscape.