The maze at Gabiano Castle is one of the very few documented examples of its kind in Piedmont’s historic gardens. Its importance stems not only from its rarity, but also from the historical period in which it was created, namely the 1930s, a time when the established taste for landscaping was integrated with formal gardens located in the immediate vicinity of the residence, but never in the form of a maze.

The Gabiano maze evokes a return to the past and is part of the restoration project entrusted by Marquise Matilde Giustiniani to the Parma architect Lamberto Cusani. The location of the maze in the heart of the park emphasises the contrast between the rigid, geometric lines of the layout and the natural park that surrounds it, recalling the medieval concept of the forest as a natural maze (park) and the maze as an artificial forest where nature is rigorously manipulated and controlled by man.