Orto Botanico Palermo

The Orto Botanico di Palermo
(Palermo Botanical Garden) is a garden complex that is used by the University of Palermo as a teaching and research facility and is open to interested visitors.

In 1779, the Accademia dei Regi Studi (Royal University) founded the Chair of Botany and Medicine. This chair was assigned a piece of land on which plants could be cultivated and examined for possible use as medicinal plants. However, since the allocated land soon turned out to be too small, the complex was moved to its current location in 1786 next to the then existing Villa Giulia.

In 1789, construction began on the neoclassical administration building, the Gymnasium, based on the plans of the French architect Léon Dufourny. Two outbuildings, the Tepidarium and the Calidarium, were designed by Venanzio Marvuglia. Dufourny also designed the oldest part of the garden near the high school.

The garden was opened in 1795. In the following years, the complex was expanded to include the Aquarium (1798), a pool with aquatic plants, and the Serra Maria Carolina (1823), a greenhouse.

In 1845, the Ficus macrophylla, now the garden's landmark, was imported from Norfolk Island (Australia).

The current size of around ten hectares was achieved through many smaller expansions in 1892. In 1913 the Giardino coloniale ("Colonial Garden") was opened, but it no longer exists today. Since 1985, the garden has been managed by the Dipartimento di Scienze Botaniche (Institute of Botany).

The garden is definitely worth a visit and impresses with its beautiful greenhouses and the peace and quiet in the middle of this turbulent city.Read more