Botanical Garden – Gaeta
In 1987 Nicola Del Roscio promoted the creation of a botanical garden on land he owned in the Monte Orlando area of Gaeta, consisting of 13 terraces sloping down towards the Gulf of Gaeta, extending over about 2 hectares and consisting mainly of tropical and sub-tropical botanical species, many of them rare and endangered in their countries of origin.
The special feature of the collection is based on 140 different species of palms from seeds collected during business or pleasure trips to different continents. The garden began as experimental research for the acclimatisation of palms.
The garden has a very delicate balance, due to the rarity of the species and the terraced terrain. Experimentation continues to this day. The Foundation finances the maintenance and improvement of the botanical garden.
Since spring 2015, the garden has been open for guided tours to a limited public of FAI members and school classes. In the future, the botanic garden will be open in the spring period to a limited public, due to the delicate balance of the garden.
In the spring of 2015, several newspaper articles were published on the occasion of the FAI visiting days, including a news interview on the third channel of public television. In March 2015, the New York Times devoted 8 pages to the story of the owner and the garden. The magazine Double (Paris/London) in its autumn/winter 2020 edition devoted 18 pages to a review of the botanical garden. The Nicola Del Roscio Foundation is in the process of printing a book with notes, historical information, botanical information, tips and experiences about the garden.
The Botanical Garden is maintained without the use of disinfectants or chemical fertilisers.
The plants are irrigated by collecting rainwater in zinc containers.
Restoration of a piece of land owned by the Municipality of Gaeta, bordering the Nicola Del Roscio Botanical Garden.The land was expropriated by the Gaeta municipality after the demolition of various unauthorised buildings.The environmental restoration began in 2014, paying a rent to the Gaeta municipality, and consisting in the removal of numerous cement debris, iron rods, various rubbish, restoration of rainwater channelling and of the terracing walls. Approximately 800 bushes of various Mediterranean scrub species were planted, especially mellifluous ones, for birds, butterflies, etc.
