In several articles I have mentioned the colours of the city of Palermo which, although different and varied, are very coherent and harmoniously united in the representation of this wonderful urban fresco that tells –  with hundreds of centuries old brushstrokes that have styles of different dominations and cultures – the history of our city.

The combination of green and blue, for example, which I usually associate with the description of the coast of Mondello, is representative of the vastness of the sea that meets the vegetation behind the seaside village, starting from the low level of the Favorita garden up to the trees that emerge from the rocks of Monte Pellegrino.

Moving, instead, to the central part of the city and the historic center in particular, the chromatic background is completely different and becomes an ancient ochre and then golden when it is illuminated by sunlight.

But there are also contexts in which there is no clear separation of these shades, indeed where it is possible to find them all together, as if to enhance them at the same time in the eyes of the beholder so that none of these are secondary to the other.

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The Botanical Garden is exactly one of these contexts because it contains all the colours of the city and perhaps even more.

Founded in the late 1700s, the Botanical Garden of Palermo stands just outside the Kalsa district, the Arab quarter of the city of Palermo, right in front of the sea and near the Foro Italico.

The Garden was established for educational purposes, on the occasion of the birth of Botany and Medicine faculty of the Academy of Royal Studies; in fact, the current site was selected for its larger size than the original one, not far away but inadequate to contain a vastness of plant species that went beyond just medical plants.

The entrance to the Botanical Garden is characterized by a classical style building called the Gymnasium, school and conference venue. Inside, however, there are other complexes, smaller and different for the plant species they host, including a part dedicated to aquatic plants (called Aquarium, in fact, from Latin verbatim "water tank") inaugurated in 1798 to complete the internal complexes.

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Already with this very brief description it is possible to imagine the vastness of colours and styles that this very pleasant place receipts.

Meanwhile, think of a classic building but surrounded by a multitude of trees that overwhelm it.

Imagine that the Botanical Garden stands inside one of the oldest districts of the city, where predominate both the ochre yellow colour of the most modern buildings and the brown the Kalsa castle’s stone walls and the ones surrounding Porta Felice.

Just think, again, that entering this forest the show is coloured with many other shades, the ones of flowers and trees, but also of the sea that is right next to it and that personalizes that fresh and always spring scent with a note of saltiness.

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Once again, a scenario that seems an oxymoron: a multitude of very different elements that, however, blend perfectly and for which it is difficult to imagine a more beautiful alternative.