About Terranuda

Terranuda can be translated in earth (terra) nude (nuda), and this name is the idea at the base of our practice: to create gardens that showcase the simple and wild beauty of nature, stripped down from any sort of formalism or style. Terranuda creates gardens that evoke curated attention, promotes curiosity and experimentation, gardens with no boundaries to be experienced in their fullest.

Short Bio

Giovanni Rossato graduated at the IUAV, University of Architecture of Venice, (Italy) in 2012. After working as landscape designer and manager for garden estates , in 2019 he created Terranuda.

Long Bio

Giovanni graduated in architecture from IUAV in Venezia, Italy and then he ventured into a two year journey where he extensively traveled through Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand. Living completely surrounded by nature he discovered that his interests were much more aligned with the unbuilt landscape rather than the built enviroment. During this sabbatical he got the oppurtunity to volunteer and live on farms that were engaging in organic and enviromentally conscious practices, which resonated with him greatly. Those farms appeared as well organized spaces where aesthetics were driven by a fucntional necessity but respectful of the surrouding landscape.

Upon his retun to Italy he started working as a property manager for Villa Buri Onlus, a non-propfit organization, which manages a historic property in Verona. Villa Buri is a 1600 villa set inside the original botanical park and the private garden of the residence. The park is home to many different plant varities and is the only “Villa Veneta” in Nothern Italy which still irrigates with original system of channels fed from the Adige River.

Giovanni moved to Sonoma County in 2018 and began working for a landscape architect, Gary Ronconi, at Sonoma Landscapes in Glenn Ellen. There he helped to rebuild the office after his home and office were lost in the 2017 Tubbsfire. He then moved over to a position at Landzen with more hands-on experience on design and project management.

In 2019, Giovanni opened his practice: Terranuda.
He was greatly influenced by the work of italian architect Carlo Scarpa and american architect Frank Llyod Wright, for their organic approach to design, where the project are shaped by the surrouding landscape, and the outdoor spaces appeared carved from within the land. Giovanni saw Terranuda, the oppurtunity to help rebuild thoughtfully complex ecosystem.

The gardens designed arenʼt only a place of gathering or play, but enviroment of beautiful biodiversity, where the place is shared between humans and nature.

Terranuda brought to completion different scale projects from the design phase to the construction completion.