The world’s most challenging mazes have tested the patience and wits of visitors for centuries. Whether set in manicured gardens or sprawling estates, these labyrinths are designed to disorient, delay and entertain.
What’s the most difficult maze in the world?
The Villa Pisani Labyrinth in Stra, Italy, just outside Venice, is said to be among the most difficult mazes in the world. Designed in 1720 by Girolamo Frigimelica, it features nine concentric rings that create a disorienting effect – complete with dead ends aplenty. Its hedges are particularly tall, preventing visitors from glancing over the top and getting a sense of their surroundings.
If you complete the maze, you’ll be rewarded with an 18th-century turret, so you can look back on your achievements and the complex route you’ve taken. A statue of Minerva, goddess of wisdom and arts, is placed at the top of the central tower via a double spiral staircase.
Napoleon is said to have got lost in it when he lived in the villa – and Hitler and Mussolini are supposed to have been too scared to even enter it at all.
Construction of Villa Pisani began in 1735 in Baroque style, with a pool, hill-top ice house, miniature forest, orangery, false hills and the labyrinth itself. It was seized by Napoleon in 1807 following his conquest of Venice, and was later used by Hitler and Mussolini for talks in 1934.
Find out about the most difficult mazes in the UK here.
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