Botanical Garden

The Botanical Garden of Naples was founded at the beginning of the 19th century at a time when this Partenopean city was dominated by the French. They carried out a plan which had been originally conceived by Ferdinand IV of Borbone and was prevented from being accomplished by a revolution in 1799.The decree of the founding of this structure bears the date 28th December 1807 and the signature of King Giuseppe Bonaparte, Napoleon’s brother. With article 1 of this decree all land owned in part by the monks of Santa Maria della Pace and by the hospital of Cava was dispossessed. Both of these were adjacent to the “Albergo dei poveri” and had been previously designated, during the Borbone era, to become "The Royal Botanical Garden" In the same article the purpose for the realization of this new structure was singled out and assigned to... "public instruction"... and to the ... "multiplication of beneficial species, to agriculture and to industry". By a decree on the 25th March 1810 Michele Tenore was nominated Director of The Botanical Garden. He had finished his studies under Vincenzo Petagna, inheriting from his teacher the passion for botany. He considered it to be not a part of the branch of medicine but an autonomous science. It was this conception of botany that led Tenore to scientifically organize the Garden in a completely new way compared with the previous Gardens of the simples. Among the various activities carried out by the Partenopean Garden during the time of Tenore we must remember the scientific research, the cultivation of medicinal plants, the teaching methods used, the planning of Royal Borbone sites and the harvesting, multiplication and diffusion of exotic plants. These were usually acclimatized in the “temperate heaters” and in the “hot heaters” which from 1818 were side by side. The actual work done by the Botanical Garden is mainly research, teaching and the conservation of rare species or those at risk of extinction besides the cultivation and presentation of museum collections and the organization of artistic and cultural exhibitions. The research done by the Botanical Garden is principally the study of the macro and micromorphological characteristics of some groups of plants for example: cycadales and orchidaceae, ethnobotanical researches in rural areas of central and southern Italy and the analysing of vegetable fossils from geographical sites in the Campania region. Furthermore it is clear that the collections of the Botanical Garden represent a reservoir of vegetal substances used for studies purposes by researchers in the Plant Biology Section of the Department of Biological Science. The teaching carried out at the Botanical Garden not only applies to university students but also to secondary school and college students. Guided visits are conducted by specialized personel every year. Annual courses are organized for the teaching body enabling it to qualify in the methods used by the Botanical Garden and about its collection. The conservation and protection of rare entities, endemic i.e. on the way to becoming extinct, is an activity that as time passes has become more and more important in the Partenopean Garden. There are collections of plants that are becoming rarer in their natural environment for example the cycladales and the arboreous ferns. Live endemic entities growing in the Campania region are also cultivated for example Kochia saxicola and Primula palinuri and others that have disappeared from their natural environment such as the Ipomea imperati. These local species are reproduced and multiplied in order to obtain a substantial number to be used in an eventual reintroduction into nature if these species should disappear from their natural sites. The Botanical Garden of Naples is open to the public from Monday to Friday  9.00am until 2.00pm. If you want to make a visit please call the following number  +39 081-2533937 and leave your surname and the number of people wanting to visit. This can be done on the same day that you wish to visit. Museum of Paleobotany and Ethnobotany occupies a part of the restored rooms on the second floor of the castle building. The Entry is free.