Last August we spent a few weeks in Italy and spent time in regions north of Rome through to Milan.

We enjoyed fine food and wine and checked out the old historic places and some city sites.

There were not many palms to be seen except for Med fans and some CIDP. I guess that more would have been seen in the south.

The best display that we found was in the Florence Orto Botanico, Giardino Dei Botanico.

They have a large glasshouse there where they store all the potted plants during the colder months.

there were only a few palms in the ground in the garden, this one should be well known.

Brahea armata in flower

Chamaerops elatior

A tall Trachycarpus fortunei

Cycas revoluta

and his mate

A  nice pair of trachy

cidp Hortex Chabaud

Many Cycads in pots

My favorite, Encephalartos horridia

Dear Jim  

Lovely coverage and beautiful plants and my favouriate still will be that of the blue cycas above_that one still just fentastic..

thanks & love,

Kris  

Among the cycad section one was seeding.

E. villoses Lem.

Some of their big ones were supported bt a steel pipe frome and tied on.

More of the big fellas

Back to some palms.

Butia yatay

A common 1

Also

Phoenix rupicola

Ravenea rivularis

Sabal palmetto

Rhapidophyllum hystrix

Cham. stolonifera

palm pot alley

that potted palm avenue is surreal! I'm surprised the Ravenea looks so good

Dear Jim  

very nice locations & beautiful plants...thanks for the coverage..

Love,

Kris  

Hey Jim, looks like you found more palms in Italy than I did.  I might have been distracted by the art, architecture, food, and wine, I don't know... ::

I went to a botanical garden in Lucca that had a Livistona chinensis on proud display (potted), and a collection of Howea forsteriana (potted), and in a glasshouse a few Dypsis lutescens (potted! of course).  

In my wanderings, I did come across a few palms bravely planted out in the wilds of Rome:

These people are really into vertical gardening:

Palm sighting!!

And look, here in Cortona, just outside the Pasta Fresca:

Let's see, any palms in view from the hotel?

Mmmm....no.  How about around Calcinaio?

Mmmmm...............no, I guess not.

Well how about here, in Montefiascone?

Lots of grapes and olives, anyway....

great pix from both of you!

i need a glass of wine all of a sudden ???

Kim,

Italy really is a great gastronomic delight but not the best trip for a palm fanatic.

We also enjoyed Lucca as it was a quiet public holiday when we were there and much was closed so not much of the ever-present tourist hustle and bustle.

I will post more pics when time permits.

You do also please.

Jim

Still in the Orto Botanico in Florence.

Arenga caudata

Brahea brandeggi

That was about it for the more interesting palms or the ones in good condition.

But there were other plants as well

Cacti collection

Nelumbo nucifera

sculptured fleur de lis

This was sharp

This nice orchid bloom is the last pic of these gardens

Some parlor palms in Orvieto

This med fan was at Allerona in north Umbria. A very dry area

More fans, in San Gimingano this time.

That is about it for the palms that we found in Italy.