The Italian Gardens in London, located in Kensington Gardens at the end of the Serpentine and the Long Water, is a fountain garden with statues, flower beds, and a view overlooking the Long Water. In 1860, Prince Albert brought designs of a renaissance Italy styled garden, complete with fountains, statues, balustrades, and urns all crafted in Portland stone and white marble. The gardens were constructed as an act of love. This carefully designed section of Kensington Gardens is small, especially compared to the rest of it, but it has extreme attention to detail as to capture the romantic nature of Italy. He “gifted” the Italian Gardens to Queen Victoria as a sign of his affection, as it was still attached to the grounds of Kensington Palace in those days. He was considered to be a keen gardener and looked over every detail, drawing inspiration from the Italian inspired gardens at Osbourn House in the Isle of Wight as well. And in 1860, he took this inspiration from Italy and Osborn House, and transplanted it right in Kensington Gardens. In class, we discussed colonialism of the British empire and how it affected art and culture of the island. During the Victorian era, the British empire was expanding and spreading its influence across the world, which at its height took up twenty-five percent of the world. During this time the leaders wanted to promote British culture in a good light. Italian culture was especially seen as exotic and highbrow for the aristocracy, so creating these gardens were of a larger endeavor to make London beautiful and enticing, showing the beauty and strength of British culture. Marble and stone imported from Italy were obtained using colonial trade networks, thus meaning that without the colonialism of the British empire during the Victorian empire, they would’ve had no reason or cause to create the Italian Gardens.