Minerva's Garden (Giardino della Minerva) is located in the heart of the old town of Salerno, in a zone known as the "Plaium montis" in the Middle Ages. It is halfway along an ideal route that runs along the axis of the walled and terraced vegetable gardens, climbing from the Municipal Park, near the river Fusandola, towards the Arechi Castle.
Salerno is an ancient city and comune in Campania and is the capital of the province of the same name. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. The city is divided into three distinct zones: the medieval sector, the 19th century sector and the more densely populated post-war area, with its several apartment blocks.
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery. The Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history: classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is itself subdivided into the Early, High, and Late Middle Ages.
The "viridarium" was owned by the Silvatico family from the 12th century, as recorded by a parchment conserved in the Badia archives in Cava de' Tirreni. Later on, in the first twenty years of the 14th century, Matteo Silvatico created a garden of simples here, a forerunner of all future botanical gardens in Europe.
The garden
In this area of extraordinary cultural value, which can now be identified in the area of the Minerva's Garden, he cultivated some of the plants used to produce the active ingredients employed for therapeutic purposes. Matteo Silvatico also taught here, showing the plants to the scholars at the School of Medicine and providing their names and characteristics. During a recent archaeological dig, the mediaeval garden was found at a depth of around two metres under the current ground level.
The last owner was Giovanni Capasso who, thanks to the interest of the lawyer Gaetano Nunziante, chairman of the Asilo di Mendicità, donated the whole property to this charitable institution immediately after the Second World War. In November 1991 a project was presented for the creation of a botanical garden dedicated to Silvatico and his garden of simples. This project was funded and developed in 2000 by the Municipal Council, using funds from the European Urban programme. Now that the restoration work has been completed, visitors to the garden can see an interesting series of elements dating back to the 17th and 18th century. One of the most attractive is the long flight of steps, marked by cruciform pillars, which support a wooden pergola.
Botanical species
The fountain with the Colocasia
Minerva's Garden is not a traditional botanical garden, but follows specific themes in various zones. The most important educational element of the theme linked to Salerno's botanical tradition is the illustration, in the largest terrace in the garden, of the ancient plant classification system. In all the other flower beds in the garden, the plants are arranged on the basis of landscaping. All the species are identified with a label that refers to the ideal position of the simple in a design representing the positioning of the elements, superimposed over the concentric subdivision of the grades.
After the 2001 restoration, several rare species were planted, mostly chosen among those quoted in the Opus Pandectarum Medicinae, which were used as medicines in the Middle Age.
Acanthus mollis, commonly known as bear's breeches, sea dock, bearsfoot or oyster plant, is a herbaceous perennial plant with an underground rhizome in the genus Acanthus. It is regarded as an invasive species in some jurisdictions.
Achillea millefolium, commonly known as yarrow or common yarrow is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Asia, Europe, and North America. It has been introduced as a feed for livestock in places like New Zealand and Australia, where it is a common herb of both wet and dry areas, such as roadsides, meadows, fields and coastal places.
Aconitum napellus is a species of flowering plant in the genus Aconitum of the family Ranunculaceae, native and endemic to western and central Europe. It is an herbaceous perennial plant growing to 1 m tall, with hairless stems and leaves. The leaves are rounded, 5–10 cm (2.0–3.9 in) diameter, palmately divided into five to seven deeply lobed segments. The flowers are dark purple to bluish-purple, narrow oblong helmet-shaped, 1–2 cm (0.39–0.79 in) tall. Plants native to Asia and North America formerly listed as A. napellus are now regarded as separate species. The plant is highly toxic, extremely poisonous in both ingestion and skin contact.
Berberis vulgaris, also known as common barberry, European barberry or simply barberry, is a shrub in the genus Berberis. It produces edible but sharply acidic berries, which people in many countries eat as a tart and refreshing fruit.
Calendula officinalis, the pot marigold, ruddles, common marigold or Scotch marigold, is a plant in the genus Calendula of the family Asteraceae. It is probably native to southern Europe, though its long history of cultivation makes its precise origin unknown, and it may possibly be of garden origin. It is also widely naturalised farther north in Europe and elsewhere in warm temperate regions of the world.
Campanula medium, common name Canterbury bells, is an annual or biennial flowering plant of the genus Campanula, belonging to the family Campanulaceae. In floriography, it represents gratitude, or faith and constancy.
Cassia fistula, commonly known as golden shower, purging cassia, or Indian laburnum, is a flowering plant in the subfamily, Caesalpiniaceae of the legume family, Fabaceae. The species is native to the Indian subcontinent and adjacent regions of Southeast Asia. It ranges from eastward throughout India to Myanmar and Thailand and south to Sri Lanka and southern Pakistan. It is a popular ornamental plant and is also used in herbal medicine. It is both the national tree and national flower of Thailand. It is the state flower of Kerala in India.
Dactylorhiza maculata, known as the heath spotted-orchid or moorland spotted orchid, is an herbaceous perennial plant belonging to the family Orchidaceae. It is widespread in mountainous regions across much of Europe from Portugal and Iceland east to Russia. It is also found in Algeria, Morocco, and western Siberia.
Diplotaxis tenuifolia is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common name perennial wall-rocket. This plant is native to Europe and Western Asia. It can be found throughout much of the temperate world where it has naturalized.
Dipsacus fullonum, syn. Dipsacus sylvestris, is a species of flowering plant known by the common names wild teasel or fuller's teasel, although the latter name is usually applied to the cultivated species Dipsacus sativus. It is native to Eurasia and North Africa, but it is known in the Americas, southern Africa, Australia and New Zealand as an introduced species and often a noxious weed. It forms large monocultures in areas it invades that have favorable climates and none of its biological control species. The inflorescence is a cylindrical array of lavender flowers which dries to a cone of spine-tipped hard bracts. It may be 10 centimeters long.
Edible flowers are flowers that can be consumed safely. Flowers may be eaten as vegetables as a main part of a meal, or may be used as herbs. Flowers are part of many regional cuisines, including Asian, European, and Middle Eastern cuisines.
Cervara Abbey is a former abbey in Santa Margherita Ligure, Liguria region, northern Italy. It is on the coastal road to Portofino. The abbey complex is a designated National Monument of Italy.
The Seinan Gakuin University Biblical Botanical Garden is a Biblical garden, one of a number botanical gardens located across the campus of Seinan Gakuin University, Nishijin 6-2-92, Sawara-ku, Fukuoka, Fukuoka, Japan. It is open daily.
The Orto Botanico di Villa Beuca is a botanical garden situated in Beuca, on a terrace nearly 100 meters above the sea located around the Villa Beuca not far from the slopes of the Regional Natural Park of Beigua, in Cogoleto, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italy. The garden is currently open to the public by appointment on Saturday: for groups and schools, guided tours may be organized; an admission fee is charged.
Morocco provides a refuge for a rich and diverse flora with about 4,200 taxa, of which 22% are endemic. The phytogeographic zones of Morocco comprise 8 zones: the Mediterranean zone, the Cedar zone (1000-2000m), the sub-Alpine zone (2,000-2,500m), the Alpine zone (2,500m+), the semi-desert scrub zone, the Reg, the sandy desert zone and the oases.
Coleophora albitarsella is a moth of the family Coleophoridae. It is found in most of Europe, but has not been recorded from Ireland and Greece.
Chamaesphecia aerifrons is a moth of the family Sesiidae. It is found in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Spain, Portugal, France, southern Belgium, south-western Germany, Italy, Sicily, Dalmatia, the Republic of Macedonia, Albania, northern Greece and on Crete, Sardinia and Corsica.
The flora of Lebanon includes approximately 2,600 plant species. Situated on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Basin, Lebanon is a reservoir of plant diversity and one of the world's biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Endemic species constitute 12% of the Lebanese flora; 221 plant species are broad endemics and 90 are narrow endemics.
Spices have been around in conjunction with human use for millennia, many civilizations in antiquity used a variety of spices for their common qualities. The variety of spices were used for common purposes among the ancient world, and they were also used to create a variety of products designed to enhance or suppress certain sensations. Spices were also associated with certain rituals to perpetuate a superstition, or fulfill a religious obligation, among other things.
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