The largest private rose garden in the world has reopened to the public. The "Roseto Botanico Gianfranco and Carla Fineschi", in Italy, boasts more than 6,500 species and it is considered a living museum of roses. STORYLINE: Nestled in the Tuscan countryside, this garden holds one of the world's largest collection of roses. Called the 'Roseto Botanico Gianfranco and Carla Fineschi', it's been managed by the Fineschi family for three generations. Every year the 3-hectare botanical rose garden reopens to the public in May, when the plants are in full bloom. Near the entrance, a plaque welcoming visitors reads, "Come into my garden. I would like my roses to see you". Rambaldo Fineschi started the collection after the Second World War, gathering about 500 plants on his estate. When he died, he passed it to his son Gianfranco Fineschi, who expanded the collection and transformed it into a botanic garden. He named it "Roseto Botanico Carla Fineschi" after his wife.

The largest private rose garden in the world has reopened to the public. The "Roseto Botanico Gianfranco and Carla Fineschi", in Italy, boasts more than 6,500 species and it is considered a living museum of roses. STORYLINE: Nestled in the Tuscan countryside, this garden holds one of the world's largest collection of roses. Called the 'Roseto Botanico Gianfranco and Carla Fineschi', it's been managed by the Fineschi family for three generations. Every year the 3-hectare botanical rose garden reopens to the public in May, when the plants are in full bloom. Near the entrance, a plaque welcoming visitors reads, "Come into my garden. I would like my roses to see you". Rambaldo Fineschi started the collection after the Second World War, gathering about 500 plants on his estate. When he died, he passed it to his son Gianfranco Fineschi, who expanded the collection and transformed it into a botanic garden. He named it "Roseto Botanico Carla Fineschi" after his wife. Since the death of Gianfranco Fineschi in 2010, his three daughters have managed the garden and have added their father's name to garden, which is now known as "Roseto Botanico Gianfranco e Carla Fineschi". Gianfranco's daughter, Cristina Fineschi says: "We can't let it go to waste because behind this there is a lot of research, a lot of study, a lot of passion, a lot of curiosity and mostly a lot of insatiability which had always seemed unbearable to us. But now that he's gone, the duty to preserve memories seems to us to be a priority in life. And therefore we continue to maintain this rose garden which, in fact, is a museum, because you see, everything that is here, every rose is different from the other." Silvia Fineschi is another of Gianfranco's daughters and a researcher at IPP - CNR (Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection, Italian National Research Centre). She describes the garden as a living museum for the rose flower. "The rose market is a market, and, as such, has to respect some standards. Sometimes there are some roses, maybe beautiful, which are ousted out by other equally beautiful but newer roses, and therefore (those roses) are withdrawn from the market, from catalogues. This mostly concerns roses dating back to the last century but also roses dating back to the '40s, '50s and even '70s, which simply are not sold anymore even by their hybridisers; but here they are collected, conserved, and it has happened that some hybridisers have come here looking for their own roses which they didn't have anymore." A mosaic of colours is on display - the golden-yellow of the Sahara rose and the classic Gay Gordon are among thousands of varieties here. Visitors come to seek out rare flowers or just enjoy the colourful displays. "I was impressed by the ramblers. Those are roses which have this beauty and they combine this aesthetic aspect with this upward thrust toward the sky which creates really beautiful images," visitor, Lionello Rabatti says. In addition to a proud peacock, cats and dogs live freely in the grounds. "This garden is well organised, well established, there is also the beauty of peacocks, free roaming animals, and therefore it is unique," says Pierluigi Pennacchia, a tourist from Rome. The roses ooze history as well as beauty - here, the Rosa Alba - the symbol of the York family during the English War of Roses (1455 - 1487). The garden is also of great scientific value to academics around the world. Prof. Francesco Ferrini is Professor of Arboriculture and Dean of the School of Agriculture at the University of Florence. Here, for example, is a collection of miniature roses by Ralph Moore, one of the most important American hybridisers.