In 1999 New York University began a project to restore, to their 1930s heyday, all the gardens and agricultural land that make up the La Pietra estate. Based on the many photographs preserved in the Villa’s photographic archive, the period immediately before World War II is considered to be the moment in which the estate reached its full splendor. The original project to restore the main La Pietra garden and the agricultural land was completed in 2011 but conservation work continues to keep the built elements in order and to complete the project of restoring the outer gardens on the estate. Such work always strives to attain the original proportions, while retaining the estate’s memory of its own past. The uneven pebble mosaics, the mossy fountains, and mature tree trunks show the garden’s age while the rejuvenated hedges and neatly clipped topiary breathe fresh life into the garden’s soul.