Sicily is not only sea, archaeological wonders and good food but also hides splendid gardens to visit to discover a slightly different aspect of the island.
Here you are the 15 most beautiful gardens in Sicily that you will fall in love with.
The Botanical Garden of Catania
Founded in 1858 by Francesco Tornabene Roccaforte, is today managed by the University of Catania but has remained exactly as it was in the 19th century, with a neoclassical building in the center and the garden with geometric avenues all around.
Includes a greenhouse, thematic collections such as that of palm trees, monumental trees and a special section called Sicilian vegetable garden with spontaneous Sicilian plants.
The Rooms in Fiore of Canalicchio
On the outskirts of Catania This splendid garden is located which surrounds a country residence and extends for 7 hectares according to the idea of a sensorial path that crosses a series of “rooms” whose common thread are colors and smells.
It’s a little paradise with themed areas, streams and lakes and a rose labyrinth.
La Verde La Malfa Foundation in San Giovanni La Punta
A short distance from Catania there is also the La Verde La Malfa Foundation – Art Park imagined by the artist Elena La Verde. A villa designed by Enzo La Malfa, the artist’s husband, is the family home around which the park unfolds and hosts installations by Elena La Verde and other artists.
What was originally a private garden is now open to the public who can discover the works of art among the trees and avenues of the park.
READ ALSO: The most beautiful castles to discover during a trip to Sicily
Radicepura Horticultural Park in Giarre
It is the Faro family, who have been managing nurseries in this area in the shadow of Etna for decades, who created the botanical park which since 2017 has also hosted the Radicepura Garden Festivalan event that promotes the biodiversity of the Mediterranean garden.
The park, which hosts 3000 plant species and 5000 plant varietiesalso includes sculptures and permanent installations of artists such as Adrian Paci and Emilio Isgrò. In the center there is a rural noble palace and the ancient millstone where Etna wine was produced.
The garden of Casa Cuseni in Taormina
Here you discover not only a magnificent Mediterranean garden but also a piece of Taormina’s history. The villa, which dates back to the early 1900s, is belonged to the English painter Robert Kitson who used to host friends including Picasso, Dalì, Ezra Pound and Greta Garbo, from Tennessee Williams to Henry Faulkner.
The dining room was decorated by Sir Frank Brangwyn who also imagined the garden, built on terraces overlooking Etna and the bay of Taormina.
The garden of Casa Pennisi from Acireale
It is among the historic gardens that escaped the wild construction of the mid-20th century and has remained intact since it was created in Acireale at the end of the 19th century. around the Grand Hotel des Bains, where travelers came to enjoy the spa.
Here stayed, among others, Wagner and the rulers of Italy. It is a classic garden with avenues bordered by hedges and Mediterranean essences, a splendid one wrought iron gazebocobblestone paths, a terracotta fountain and a nineteenth-century palace still inhabited by the family.
Villa Trinità in Mascalucia
Sicilians will tell you that wherever you dig, ancient finds turn up. It’s true, it also happened at Villa Trinità, built on an ancient lava flow from 1382 that had covered Hellenistic and Roman remainswhich resurfaced during the construction of the garden.
The paths are made of lava stone, the irrigation channels exploit theancient technique brought by the Arabs known as saie. There are also a citrus grove and a vineyard.
Paternò del Toscano Park
Built on an ancient lava flow, on the slopes of Etna, it is realized on terraces between rock outcrops which host both local plants and varieties from every corner of the world. M
he true passion of Ettore Paternò del Toscano, owner and landscape designer, are palm trees. He has collected 42 varieties. The park also includes a forest.
Biviere Garden in Lentini
The myth It is said that in this very place Hercules gave Ceres, goddess of the harvest, the skin of the Nemean lion he had killed. The lake was named after her, Lacus Erculeus. Today it is called Biviere, a name given to it by the Arabs because their flocks watered here. Today is a park full of scents and colors between the purple of the jacaranda, the smell of jasmine and wild roses.
Garden of San Giuliano in Villasmundo
For more than 8 centuries the vast orange groves of this estate belong to the family of marquis of San Giuliano. Since the end of the 1970s, his heirs have created a splendid garden around the historic farmhouse which is home to tropical species – a reminder of the years the Marquis spent in Brazil – and large trees which shade the lawn in front of the house and the small chapel .
It also has a magnificent view of Etna which stands out over the citrus fruit expanses.
Villa Tasca in Palermo
Built in the mid-1500s by Louiso di Bologna, baron of Montefalco, the villa and the park that stands around it then passed to Agata Lanza Gioeni and Ercole Branciforti, duke of S. Giovanni, who made it a magnificent Renaissance residence with fountains, statues and water features and a large tree-lined French-style avenue.
In the 19th century it passed to the Tasca family who introduced new plants and innovative cultivation techniques and one section in romantic style.
The Botanical Garden of Palermo
Visiting Palermo without its botanical garden means missing out on a large part of the history of this city.
It was built in 1789 when the Accademia dei Regi Studi established the chair of Botany and since then it has grown and expanded to 10 hectares that host local, European, Mediterranean species but also from tropical and subtropical areas.
Among the avenues you will see fountains, pools full of water lilies, statues and greenhouses.
Regaleali estate in Palermo
Imagine rolling hills covered with vineyards and olive groves as far as the eye can see, whose green is contrasted by the gold of the wheat fields. It is Tenuta Regaleali, just outside Palermo but in the middle of rural Sicily.
The two nineteenth-century farmhouses they are immersed in a garden that includes ornamental and aromatic plants, fruit trees and vegetable gardens.
The Garden of the Impossible in Favignana
Although small, the island of Favignana also hosts a splendid garden. It is located in an area that has been used as a for centuries tuff quarry and today it is a 4-hectare park that houses 500 species of plants between rock walls, hypogea and passages that tell the story of industrial archaeology of this place, now full of greenery.
The Balio Garden in Erice
It’s the little one medieval village of Erice, high on the cliff overlooking Trapani and the Egadi islandshosting the splendid Giardino del Balio adjacent to the ruins of the castle.
Count Agostino Sieri Pepoli wanted it at the end of the 19th century. It’s in English stylewith hedges bordering the paths and large trees offering their shade as you stroll among flowerbeds and discover all the panoramic points from which to admire the coast from above.
