Botanical Garden (Orto Botanico dell'Universita di Catania) description and photos - Italy: Catania (Sicily) (Topic)

Botanical Garden (Orto Botanico dell'Universita di Catania) description and photos - Italy: Catania (Sicily). Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is Orto Botanico dell'Universita di Catania.

Photo and description

The Botanical Garden, run by the University of Catania, is spread over an area of 16 thousand square meters. The first attempt to create a botanical garden here was made back in 1847, when a plot of land on the outskirts of the city was purchased for this purpose. However, a year later, a revolution occurred, and the plans had to be forgotten for a while. They returned to them only in 1858 - the founder of the garden was Francesco Roccaforte Tornabene, who collected a collection of succulents. And in 1862, the first plants were planted, acquired in the botanical gardens of Sweden, France, Naples and Palermo. A couple of years later, the territory of the botanical garden was enlarged in order to cultivate typical Sicilian species in a special zone. Finally, at the beginning of the 20th century, a subdivision of the garden was created on the slopes of Mount Etna, dubbed the Nuova Hussonea Botanical Garden, mountain plants are grown here. During the Second World War, the territory of the main botanical garden was seriously damaged, and in 1958 the old Tepidarium greenhouse was demolished. However, later the greenhouse was rebuilt.

Today the Catania Botanical Garden is divided into two main sections: the so-called Ortus Generalis with an area of 13 thousand square meters, where mainly exotic plants are grown, and Ortus Siculus, with an area of 3 thousand square meters, where Sicilian kinds. Ortus Generalis, in turn, is divided into zones, which are framed by lava steps: there are two small greenhouses for succulents (about 2 thousand species!), A tropical greenhouse, where you can see palm trees (about 50 species) and other exotic trees, and three circular reservoirs for the cultivation of aquatic plant species. Ortus Siculus consists of narrow rectangular flower beds planted with plants according to the classification - here you can see Sicilian fir, cabbage, Sicilian zelkova, etc. In addition, the attraction of the botanical garden is its pretty neoclassical administrative building.

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Topic: Botanical Garden (Orto Botanico dell'Universita di Catania) description and photos - Italy: Catania (Sicily).