Description
The Botanical Garden of Catania is the University's scientific garden, opened in 1858 in the center of the city: about 16,000 square meters of palms, cacti and rare plants, partly on old lava flows from Roman times.
The Hortus Generalis, with the exotic plants, is an Italian-style garden of geometric flower beds and three round pools with aquatic plants. In front of the Neoclassical building with its Ionic columns grow two large dragon trees; all around are some fifty species of palms and more than 2,000 species of succulents.
The Tepidarium, the large iron-and-glass greenhouse, holds coffee, papaya and water lilies: badly damaged by bombing and demolished in 1958, it was rebuilt exactly as it was in 2008. The Hortus Siculus, instead, gathers the island's wild plants, including endangered species such as Zelkova sicula.
The Hortus Generalis, with the exotic plants, is an Italian-style garden of geometric flower beds and three round pools with aquatic plants. In front of the Neoclassical building with its Ionic columns grow two large dragon trees; all around are some fifty species of palms and more than 2,000 species of succulents.
The Tepidarium, the large iron-and-glass greenhouse, holds coffee, papaya and water lilies: badly damaged by bombing and demolished in 1958, it was rebuilt exactly as it was in 2008. The Hortus Siculus, instead, gathers the island's wild plants, including endangered species such as Zelkova sicula.