Behind the Palladian Cloister and the Cloister of the Cypresses lies the Borges Labyrinth, a reconstruction of the garden-labyrinth designed by Randoll Coate in honor of Jorge Luis Borges. The labyrinth was brought to life by the Giorgio Cini Foundation in collaboration with the International Jorge Luis Borges Foundation and was inaugurated on June 14, 2011, marking the 25th anniversary of the Argentine writer’s passing. Inspired by Borges’ tale “The Garden of Forking Paths,” the labyrinth embodies a captivating narrative. Coate shared the genesis of his project in these poignant words: “I met Borges through Susana (Bombal, ed.). Naturally, she escorted me to our meeting. It was my first time seeing him, and suddenly, I realized, quite remarkably, that he was blind. The notion of conversing with a blind man struck me deeply: I could see, while he could not. Five years before Borges’ death, I had a terrible dream in which I heard it said that Borges had just passed away. And so I thought, ‘Borges must not be commemorated with one of those dreadful statues—you know, with angels and such. It must be something truly Borgesian, in other words, a labyrinth.’ Thus, I began sketching and envisioning it, pondering what form an extraordinary labyrinth might take in the mind of an extraordinary man. The labyrinth is an open book; this is the first Borgesian symbol. ‘Ts’ui Pen must have once said, ‘I retire to write a book.’ And another time: ‘I retire to build a labyrinth.’ No one ever thought that book and labyrinth were the same thing.” How does time describe itself in a labyrinth? I noticed that the two “O”s in ‘Jorge’ and ‘Borges’ form a perfect hourglass. Marìa Kodama: the ultimate symbols are formed by an ‘M’ and a ‘K’.”