Vedo il giardino dall’alto.

Dall’alto literally means “from the top” or “from above.” It’s a contraction of three parts:

• da = “from”
• l’ = the masculine singular article il with elision (drops the i, keeps the apostrophe)
• alto = “high,” “top,” or “height”
  Together: da + l’ + alto = dall’alto.

In Italian, when da combines with the article il, you normally get dal (da + il). But if the following word starts with a vowel (like alto), the article il becomes l’ by dropping its vowel and adding an apostrophe. So:

• da + il → dal (before consonants)
• da + l’ → dall’ (before vowels)
  Hence dall’
  • alto → dall’alto.

Vedo is the present indicative of vedere (“to see”) in the first-person singular (I see). Italian doesn’t have an exact equivalent of the English present continuous. If you really want to stress the ongoing action, you can use the periphrastic form:

• Sto vedendo il giardino dall’alto (I am seeing the garden from above),
  but in most contexts vedo perfectly conveys either a simple fact or an action taking place now.

Yes, you could, but nuances differ:

• Vedere = “to see” (perceive with the eyes; often unintentional or neutral)
• Guardare = “to look at” (direct your gaze deliberately toward something)
  So Vedo il giardino dall’alto suggests “the garden comes into view from above,” while Guardo il giardino dall’alto would imply “I’m consciously looking at the garden from a high vantage point.”

Yes. Italian allows flexible word order for emphasis:

• Vedo il giardino dall’alto. (neutral)
• Dall’alto vedo il giardino. (emphasizes the vantage point)
  Both are correct; the difference is in rhythm or what you want to highlight first.

You pronounce it smoothly as if it were one word:

• [dalˈal.to]
  There’s no audible pause at the apostrophe; it merely marks the elision of i in il before the vowel a of alto.