| Giardini Botanici Hanbury | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Type | Botanical |
| Location | Ventimiglia, Italy |
| Area | 18 hectares (44 acres) |
| Opened | 1867 |
| Operated by | University of Genoa |
| Website | giardinihanbury |
The Giardini Botanici Hanbury, also known as Villa Hanbury, are major botanical gardens operated by the University of Genoa. They are located at Corso Montecarlo 43, Mortola Inferiore, several km west of Ventimiglia, Italy.
The gardens were established by Sir Thomas Hanbury on a small, steep peninsula jutting southwards from an altitude of 103 meters down into the Mediterranean Sea. He purchased the extant Palazzo Orengo property in 1867, and over decades created the garden with the aid of pharmacologist Daniel Hanbury (his brother), the botanist and landscape designer Ludwig Winter, and scientists including Gustav Cronemayer, Kurt Dinter, and Alwin Berger. In 1912 the Hortus Mortolensis, the catalogue of the garden, contained 5800 species, although the garden itself had more. Hanbury died in 1907, but energetic plantings and improvements resumed after World War I under the direction of his daughter-in-law Lady Dorothy Hanbury.
The gardens were severely damaged in World War II, when they became a no-man's land and in 1960 Lady Hanbury sold them to the State of Italy. Initially its care was entrusted to the International Institute of Ligurian Studies but when they withdrew for lack of adequate funds in 1983 responsibility was passed to the University of Genoa. Restoration has been gradually proceeding since 1987 and it was declared a nature preserve in 2000.
On 1 June 2006 the Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali submitted a proposal for the inclusion of the gardens on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. [1]
In 2007 and 2011 Villa Hanbury was included in the list of the 10 most beautiful gardens in Italy. [2] [3]
Today 9 of the gardens' 18 hectares are under cultivation, and contain about 2500 taxa. Many of the species are plants of Mediterranean climates from the six Mediterranean climate zones of the world.
Major collections include agaves, aloes, and salvia, as well as fine old specimens of Araucaria cunninghamii (planted 1832), Casimiroa edulis (1867), olive trees, Olmediella betschleriana , and Pinus canariensis (1870). An orchard of rare fruits includes Actinidia , Carica , Diospyros , Eugenia , Feijoa , Fortunella , Macadamia , Mespilus germanica , and Persea .
Additional collections feature palms, succulents, Australian trees, citrus, and cultivated flowers. Of particular interest are the Aphyllanthes monspeliensis , Beaucarnea recurvata , Beaucarnea stricta , Caesalpinia sepiaria , Chiranthodendron pentadactylon , Chrysanthemum discoideum , Coronilla juncea , Cupressus lusitanica , Eucalyptus citriodora , Eucalyptus sideroxylon , Eucalyptus microcorys , Hesperocyparis guadalupensis , Mandevilla laxa , Passiflora bryonioides , Passiflora amethistina , Passiflora edulis , Senecio deltoideus , Sollya heterophylla , Thunbergia grandiflora , Thunbergia coccinea , Thunbergia mysorensis , Wigandia urens , and Yucca australis .
The first index seminum or seed list of the gardens was published in 1883, and contained 557 species; it was published annually thereafter. The seed lists were distributed to other botanical gardens, which could request seeds. In 1908 more than 13,000 packets of seed were despatched. [4]
The first catalogues of the gardens, one alphabetical and one systematic, were published by Gustav Cronemeyer in 1889, and contained about 3600 species. A second edition was published by Kurt Dinter in 1897. The third edition, published in 1912 by Alwin Berger with the title Hortus Mortolensis, contained almost 6000 species. The wild flowers of the gardens were separately catalogued by Berger in 1907.
The principal publications of the gardens are:
The Italian Riviera or Ligurian Riviera is the narrow coastal strip in Italy which lies between the Ligurian Sea and the mountain chain formed by the Maritime Alps and the Apennines. Longitudinally it extends from the border with France and the French Riviera near Ventimiglia eastwards to Capo Corvo which marks the eastern end of the Gulf of La Spezia and is close to the regional border between Liguria and Tuscany. The Italian Riviera thus includes nearly all of the coastline of Liguria. Historically the "Riviera" extended further to the west, through what is now French territory as far as Marseille.
The Chelsea Physic Garden was established as the Apothecaries' Garden in London, England, in 1673 by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries to grow plants to be used as medicines. This four acre physic garden, the term here referring to the science of healing, is among the oldest botanical gardens in Britain, after the University of Oxford Botanic Garden. Its rock garden is the oldest in Europe devoted to alpine plants and Mediterranean plants. The largest fruiting olive tree in Britain is there, protected by the garden's heat-trapping high brick walls, along with what is doubtless the world's northernmost grapefruit growing outdoors. Jealously guarded during the tenure of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries, the garden became a registered charity in 1983 and was opened to the general public for the first time.
A herbarium is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study.
Ventimiglia is a resort town in the province of Imperia, Liguria, northern Italy. It is located 130 km (81 mi) west of Genoa, and 7 km (4.3 mi) from the French-Italian border, on the Gulf of Genoa, having a small harbour at the mouth of the Roia river, which divides the town into two parts. Ventimiglia's urban area has a population of 55,000.
The province of Imperia is a mountainous and hilly province in the Liguria region of Italy, situated between France to the north and the west, and the Ligurian Sea, an arm of the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Its capital is the city of Imperia.
Alwin Berger was a German botanist best known for his contribution to the nomenclature of succulent plants, particularly agaves and cacti. Born in Germany he worked at the botanical gardens in Dresden and Frankfurt. From 1897 to 1914 he was curator of the Giardini Botanici Hanbury, the botanical gardens of Sir Thomas Hanbury at La Mortola, near Ventimiglia in northwestern Italy, close to the border with France. After working in Germany from 1914 to 1919, Berger studied in the United States for three years, before spending his final years as director of the department of botany of the natural history museum in Stuttgart
Syagrus romanzoffiana, the queen palm or cocos palm, is a palm native to South America, introduced throughout the world as a popular ornamental garden tree. S. romanzoffiana is a medium-sized palm, quickly reaching maturity at a height of up to 15 m (49 ft) tall, with pinnate leaves having as many as 494 pinnae (leaflets), although more typically around 300, each pinna being around 50 centimetres (18 in) in length and 3–5 centimetres (1–2 in) in width.
Moritz Kurt Dinter was a German botanist and explorer in South West Africa.
The Giardino Botanico Rea is a botanical garden located 450 meters altitude in Val Sangone, at Trana, Province of Turin, Piedmont, northern Italy.
The flora of Italy is all the plant life present in the territory of the Italian Republic. The flora of Italy was traditionally estimated to comprise about 5,500 vascular plant species. However, as of 2019, 7,672 species are recorded in the second edition of the flora of Italy and in its digital archives Digital flora of Italy. In particular, 7,031 are autochthonous and 641 are non native species widely naturalized since more than three decades. Additionally, further 468 exotic species have been recorded as adventitious or naturalized in more recent times.
Ludwig Winter was a German botanist, nurseryman and landscape designer, creator of gardens such as the Giardini Botanici Hanbury, noted for introducing tall palms and other foreign species to the Ligurian riviera.
Daniel Hanbury FRS was a British botanist and pharmacologist. He was an early student of pharmacognosy, the study of the medicinal applications of nature, principally of plants.
Sir Thomas Hanbury was an English businessman, gardener and philanthropist. He built the Giardini Botanici Hanbury, or Hanbury botanical gardens, at Mortola Inferiore, between Ventimiglia and Menton, on the coast of Italy near to the border with France.
Mortola Inferiore, often known as La Mortola, is a frazione of the comune of Ventimiglia, in the province of Imperia, in Liguria, Italy. It lies on the road from Ventimiglia to the French border. It is home to the Giardini Botanici Hanbury, or Hanbury botanical gardens, created in the 19th century by Sir Thomas Hanbury.
Moringa ovalifolia is a succulent flowering tree of the family Moringaceae native to Namibia and southwestern Angola.
The Moreno Gardens of Bordighera which were described by many tourists in the 19th century, no longer exist. Only a small portion survives as today’s Monet gardens, which are located in Via Domenico Tumiati, and in some private properties. The remainders of the Moreno Gardens and Villa Palmizi are part of the properties protected by the Superintendent of Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism (Italy).
The Winter Gardens were created by the German botanist Ludwig Winter and they are located at 6, Via Ludovico Winter in Bordighera, Liguria, Italy.
Grimaldi is a frazione of 281 inhabitants in the municipality of Ventimiglia, in the province of Imperia. It is located near the French border of Ponte San Luigi. The oldest inhabited centre, located at 220 m, takes the name of Grimaldi Superiore, to distinguish it from the houses built along the State Road 1 (SS1) Aurelia, which makes up Grimaldi Inferiore.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Geographic | |
| Other | |
