Description of the attraction
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 - then for this purpose a piece of land was purchased on the outskirts of the city. However, a year later, a revolution happened, 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, called the Botanical Garden "Nuova Gussonea" - 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 Botanical Garden of Catania 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 species are collected. 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 round reservoir 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 administrative building, built in the neoclassical style.
