Baldassare Forestiere

Who was Baldassare Forestiere?

Baldassare Forestiere was a Sicilian immigrant who created the Forestiere Underground Gardens in Fresno, California, a spectacular 10-acre subterranean villa built primarily by him with the partial assistance of his brother over a period of 40 years.

The gardens feature nearly one hundred chambers, passageways, courts and patios dug beneath the hard pan soil. Fruit-bearing trees planted below the ground protrude through openings at ground level. Forestiere resided here, benefiting from cooler temperatures during the high heat of the California Central Valley in summer as well as warmer conditions within the ground during winter. The gardens are an impressive example of non-traditional vernacular architecture. Forestiere's creation and story offer parallels to Simon Rodia, another Italian immigrant born in the same year, who settled in California and crafted the Watts Towers.

For a fictionalized account of Forestiere and his obsession, see the short story "The Underground Gardens" by T. Coraghessan Boyle, published in The New Yorker. An extensive feature on Forestiere was published in Whole Earth Review.