Years of under-use and much indiscriminate planting of fruit trees left this garden in a seaside resort near Rome sorely in need of a makeover. Building work on an addition to the late-1950s house compounded the general air of unkemptness. The owners wish to put in a pool, the position of which is inevitably dictated by the shade cast by several large trees – Pinus pinea and Quercus ilex – all of which are protected under local by-laws. They requested lush, exotic planting around what will become the pool area, something which the balmy micro-climate in this resort makes perfectly feasible.