Its 10 pm, I have just arrived to the Mafia hub of the world and I am walking the streets of Palermo alone. I was told never to do this… Despite what people say and the stigmas that go with southern Italy, the feeling of travelling in unknown territory always excites me and this excitement was fuelled by the other encounters I was to have with people, places and plants throughout my intrepid adventures from Palermo up through the Aeolian Archipelago to Naples.
I gravitated during my first morning, as I tend to do, towards the parks and gardens. Palermos Orto Botanico is a gorgeous little botanical garden consisting of grouped plantings such as the Cycad lawns, stunning cacti collections all grown in uniform terracotta pots and long avenues of ballooned prickly trunk Chorisia speciosa that provide respite from the hot afternoon sun. It is a dry garden where cacti cultivars, plants of the Arecacea family and massive Ficus specimens thrive with their aerial adventitious roots hanging from the trees limbs. The historic golden brown stone buildings where botanists still study to this day complement the surrounding plantings successfully, creating an ambience of prestige. It is a garden of vast contrast to the lush green that has consumed me while living in the UK, and no doubt on my return to Australia, I will once again be shocked by the devastation that the prolonged drought is causing to both our landscape and the industry.
Sitting on a bus heading east across Sicily, we rounded the corner and I saw my first glimpse of Mt Etna, which shadows Catania, Sicily’s second foremost commercial/mafia hub. The enormity of the volcano and its looming plumes of smoke and clouds formed by its apparent micro climate, paints the picture that one has read about in texts throughout their life about Mt St Helens, Mt Vesuvius and the like. I was excited to get up there, but that would have to wait…
I had read a lot about Catanias Orto Botanico, but the first thing I wish to note is that it is literally tiny. It is one of the smallest botanic gardens I have ever visited, but it certainly packed a lot of interest into such a small space. With an amazing collection of palms, an impressive cacti garden and some of the best specimens of Dracaena draco that I have seen, the small confines of the garden impressed me. One feature was their aquatic/bog plant pond which being raised above ground is a segmented pie featuring various species (Cyperus papyrus, Nelumbo (lotus) and Nymphaea (water lilies)). There is also evidence of development with a newly planted Sicilian Indigenous Plants Garden and redeveloped glasshouse, both of which will be enough to get me back again in the future.
That evening I joined a night tour to visit Mt Etna. Passing through groves of indigenous birch (Betula aetnensis), the last tree one would expect to see in what falsely appears to be such a dry and rocky environment but is in fact yielding a shallow fertile profile. Wild rosemary and lavender poke their slender heads through patches of scrubby low lying shrubs and grasses. While the landscape across the slope of the mountain is cut up by old rocky lava flows which have decimated the vegetation and most likely induced extinction of particular indigenous species, there is the constant reminder that it is simply dormant and life is strong, formed by the glowing orange lava flows just five kilometres away on the other side of the mountain.
Having not quiet experienced the true up close and personal encounter with a volcano which I was yearning from Mt Etna, it was time for some island hopping through Isole Eolie (Aeolian Islands). Jutting out of the turquoise sea which laps against beaches comprising of black oxidised volcanic rock, is Stromboli, Europes most active volcano!
Hiking in ankle deep black ash (texture similar to sand), you zig zag your way up the side of the volcano. As you wander past naturalised Ficus carica (edible fig), Optunia (cacti) and Capparis spinosa (the flower buds are harvested and processed producing capers) which persist from old plantations, the town below gets smaller and smaller while the sun setting on the horizon starts to shed hues of orange, pinks and purple. As you near the top, a huge puff of ash erupting from the crater startles you, and spurs you on for that last steep climb to the peak above the main craters. Sitting on the edge of a cliff looking down into the main crater I awaited patiently, camera at the ready to capture the next burst of magma which reaching up to 20m in height takes place every 20 minutes or so. As the magma cools, turning from bright orange to black, the small pieces of ash floating through the air attempt to blind and suffocate you. With the sunset putting on a display of its own in the background, distant volcanic islands peak through the mist blanketing the sea; this inhospitable environment consumes every inch of your soul.
Southern Italy is a place of undiscovered secrets and explorations. It’s got something for everyone, from beaches to volcanoes and everything in between.
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Some other photos from the trip for all you kind people, the first couple from palermo:
The next two are from a third volcano I visited on an island in the archipelago called Vulcano, funnily enough.
Street Art in Napolo
On a piece of rock, I mean history, at the Colosseum.
The Pantheons Roof
Romas street art, an expression of political opinion.
Beautiful, romantic Venezia.
And a few more for the family..............
Wow,
ReplyDeleteTotally awesome. what a fantastic time you are having! The photos are amazing and your descriptions are making my feet just itch with the urge to travel again.
Hope you have had/are having a really fantastic time over there.
Keep in touch!
Kath