Forestiere Underground Gardens
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Forestiere Underground Gardens located at 5021 W. Shaw Avenue in Fresno, California are an unusual manmade creation built by Baldasare Forestiere, an immigrant from Sicily over a period of 40 years from 1906 to until his death in 1946. The gardens, while subterranean, do have many skylights and catchbasins for water. There is a wide variety of hybrids and grafted trees, and the underground temperature helps prevent against frost. It is still operated by members of the Forestiere family and can be considered a spectacular though unconventional example of vernacular architecture.
For a fictionalized account of Forestiere and his lonely obsession, see the short story "The Underground Gardens" by T. Coraghessan Boyle, published in The New Yorker, (May 25, 1998).
