The Graces of Nature. Ugo Foscolo and a Lasioglossum Sweat Bee on Rover Bellflower, Campanula rapunculus, Villa del Grumello Park, Como, Italy
Niccolò (later Ugo) Foscolo (1778-1827), born on Zante, now Greece, led a highly romantic and adventurous life as a soldier, politician, author, poet and lover. In his unfinished Le Grazie he hails flowers (and nature) as symbols of beauty and greatness. Foscolo loved staying at the Villa del Grumello and it was only appropriate that in the late nineteenth century this statue of him was placed in the renovated gardens. Apparently it's unknown who the sculptor is (at least, I haven't been able to find out). Regardless, it's a handsome feature of the lawn at the bottom of tumbling down rocky woods. It's there I saw lots of wild Rover Bellflowers, Campanula rapunculus - fitting of course, for much-roving Foscolo. A flower (see inset) is being visited by a tireless Sweat Bee, I think a Lasioglossum, perhaps urbanum, with a full load of pollen.
The Graces of Nature. Ugo Foscolo and a Lasioglossum Sweat Bee on Rover Bellflower, Campanula rapunculus, Villa del Grumello Park, Como, Italy
Niccolò (later Ugo) Foscolo (1778-1827), born on Zante, now Greece, led a highly romantic and adventurous life as a soldier, politician, author, poet and lover. In his unfinished Le Grazie he hails flowers (and nature) as symbols of beauty and greatness. Foscolo loved staying at the Villa del Grumello and it was only appropriate that in the late nineteenth century this statue of him was placed in the renovated gardens. Apparently it's unknown who the sculptor is (at least, I haven't been able to find out). Regardless, it's a handsome feature of the lawn at the bottom of tumbling down rocky woods. It's there I saw lots of wild Rover Bellflowers, Campanula rapunculus - fitting of course, for much-roving Foscolo. A flower (see inset) is being visited by a tireless Sweat Bee, I think a Lasioglossum, perhaps urbanum, with a full load of pollen.