Some have always been well known or even famous, others are enclosed like a pearl in a treasure chest and reveal their spectacular beauty to those who have the patience and curiosity to go and discover them and fully enjoy their wonder.  The Ligurian gardens,  situated in a land that has a mild year-round climate, embraced by the sea, are able to sustain, among the botanical varieties that they host, many tropical and sub-tropical plants that would not be able to survive in other parts of Italy or Europe.  The best season for blooms is certainly the Spring, but plants of all kinds can be admired any time of the year;  in a number of  gardens there are fountains, statues and antique relics framing the flora, making the sites all the more lovely. There are also many gardens overlooking the sea that offer fabulous views of the Ligurian Sea  as glimpsed through the branches of trees .

Hanbury Botanical Gardens  (Ventimiglia)
In La Mortola is found one of the most famous botanical gardens in the world, created by the British brothers Thomas and Daniel Hanbury, who bought the property from the Orengo family in 1867 .
The place in itself  is a wonder in the way it clings to the coast, offering incredible views of the blue sea.  Moreover the themed gardens add to the marvellous atmosphere of the place:  the Japanese Garden, the Australian forest, the garden of Perfumes,  the roses,  the succulents, the avenue of Cicas, the Agaves and Aloes sector,  eventually plunging  into the  plain of Citrus and tropical fruit trees.

Pallanca Exotic Garden  (Bordighera)
The  Pallanca Exotic Garden lies at the entrance of the town of Bordighera, a place graced with more than 3,200 plants of different varieties, including an important collection of cacti, one of the most valuable in Italy.
The lovely garden resembles a steep rocky slope overlooking the sea, and an old mule trail marks the path that alternates between the typical Ligurian bands, that is,  terraces made of dry stone walls, all accompanied by delicious exotic varieties that enhance the linear and unmistakeable landscape of the Ligurian coast.

Villa Ormond Garden (San Remo)
The splendor of the park surrounding the Villa Ormond,  in San Remo,  is the result of  the  inventiveness and passion for the gardens of a wealthy tobacco merchant from Switzerland: Michel-Louis Ormond.
The park, divided into two sections, above and below the road, offers unique corners of great botanical interest such as the palmetum comprising more than seventy species of palms from every continent, the forest of cedars, the park of ficus and the olive grove .
The Garden also houses an area dedicated to the Japanese Garden, in honor of the Japanese city of Atami, twinned with San Remo.

Villa Nobel Garden (San Remo)
The Garden of Villa Nobel in San Remo surrounds the villa where Alfred Nobel lived in serenity during the last years of his life until his death in 1896.
In this garden, which the great scientist called ”My Nest”, you can see lush palm trees covering an area of about 6099.10 square meters, accompanied by flowers,  a variety of shrubs and rare exotic plants.
The Villa and the park are now owned by the Province of Imperia, which has overseen their restoration and made it into a museum and conference center.

Villa Grock Garden (Imperia)
The Villa and the Garden were born in 1927 based on an idea by Adrien Wettach, better known as Grock, the most famous clown of all time. They are indeed two imaginative and stunning creations that stand on the hills of Imperia Oneglia  with a wonderful view overlooking the sea.
The park is home to architectural oddities, arboretums and hydraulic installations that were cutting-edge in their time.
All this inventiveness recalls the madness and magic that can be felt at the circus and which Grock masterfully brought back to his residence and the park that surrounds it.

Province of Savona
Villa Faraggiana Garden (Albissola Marina)
The Garden of Villa Faraggiana, which  surrounds an elegant eighteenth-century villa, expresses all the grandeur and richness of a large park of the time.
Trees and flowers are  framed by ancient statues, delicate parterres and large pergolas.

Eremo del Deserto Botanical Garden (Varazze)
Eremo del Deserto is a monastery of Carmelite Fathers dating from the seventeenth century.
The monastery is surrounded by a botanical trail about two kilometers and a half  in length that winds in a loop and makes a significant naturalistic impact.
What is special about this path is the coexistence in a single place of a number of typical Mediterranean plants and shrubs belonging to mountainous forests.
In the dense vegetation it is also possible to encounter seven ”romitori”, chapels where the monks spent periods of penance and strict isolation.

Province of Genoa
Parchi di Nervi (Genoa)
The Parchi di Nervi include the areas surrounding the  Serra, Groppallo and Grimaldi villas,  and together they constitute the largest green area of the Ligurian capital.
Created in the nineteenth century as  simple gardens, they have over time turned into a luxuriant urban park crossed by paths and  embellished by lawns.
Among the aspects that characterize them, the rose garden is  an important one, to be counted among the loveliest in the world, and comprising over four hundred varieties of antique roses.  In addition to this you can admire hundreds of botanical species of Mediterranean flora and majestic century-old shrubs.

Parco di Villa Durazzo Pallavicini-Pegli (Genoa)
A unique park in Genoa that combines a path between nature, theater and architecture, designed in the first half of the nineteenth century by Michele Canzio, stage designer of the Teatro Carlo Felice.
There are many distinctive features to this botanical garden, such as the collection of camellias, the gazebos of roses, the garden of Flora …. and a thousand other themed places founded on a theatrical narrative based on  nature.
Inside the park you can also visit the Museo Archeologico Ligure.

Clelia Durazzo Grimaldi Botanical Garden (Genoa)
The Garden is located in the Genoese Pegli district near the Villa Durazzo Pallavicini.  It was created in 1794 upon  the request of Clelia Durazzo, wife of Giuseppe Grimaldi,  and a great enthusiast and student of botany, who at that time gave a strong impetus to the scientific study of plants.
The Garden offers plant collections of inestimable value,  and inside it are three areas where the plants are displayed:  succulents (cacti), carnivorous plants and tropical orchids.

Parco del Palazzo del Principe (Genoa)
The Palazzo del Principe is a grand and elegant house commissioned by Andrea Doria in the sixteenth century,  and the monumental garden that surrounds it can be defined as one of the most important of the Italian Riviera.
Recently the entire park has been restored,  and in addition to the plants that embellish it,  the location displays several sculptures including the statue of Neptune by the artist Taddeo Carlone.

La Cervara Abbazia di San Girolamo al Monte of Portofino (S.Margherita L.)
The garden itself originated as the hortus  in the Benedictine Abbey of  San Girolamo al Monte, a beautiful dwelling that overlooks the sea of Portofino.
Many botanical rarities are preserved in it, the most important being a pepper tree more than a century old, and a purple wisteria that dates back several centuries.

Montano Pratorondanino Botanical Garden (Campo Ligure)
A Botanical Garden referred to as  “Museum of the  Green”,  a newly created park that houses types of shrubs from three different habitats of mountain flora.
Many extremely rare plants are housed in this botanical garden, including some varieties in danger of extinction.

Province of La Spezia
Botanical Garden of Montemarcello (Ameglia)
The Botanical Garden of Montemarcello is located in the Montemarcello Magra Regional Park   (300 m above sea level), and inside it,  examples of all the environments typical of Mediterranean vegetation are  found.  The Botanical Garden has been active since 1999 and is included in the Ligurian  System of the Centers for Environmental Education.

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Not just a plain vacation, but a compelling route for those who love the smell of the most beautiful roses,  the colors of  the most elegant orchids,  the majesty of the rarest palm trees, the silvery green of the oldest olive trees.

A unique opportunity to gather,  on one  palette,  all the colors of the most charming sections of the Riviera:  from the fabulous Principality of Monaco to the  superb city of Genoa, while taking advantage of the hospitality of the City of Flowers par excellence, San Remo.

We invite you to spend with us a truly original sojourn, which will alternate between the discovery of the most beautiful glimpses of our coasts, and the revelation of  those truly authentic art galleries, namely our botanical gardens, not forgetting the unique opportunity to visit the locales of cultivation of aromatic plants and ornamental flowers, which are a mainstay of our economy.

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San Remo, the city of flowers par excellence, hosts, in the park of Villa Ormond, a beautiful botanical garden.  Built by the Rambaldi family of San Remo, the villa was sold to the Parisian Ormond family in 1887:  the park,  recently restored,  was therefore modeled after the French style of the late nineteenth century.  The plants that color the garden originate from all over the world: from the Canary Islands to Japan, from Tasmania to China, from California to Brazil.

In the afternoon transfer to Bordighera: just before the tunnel of Punta Migliarese,  a steep rocky slope appears, overlooking the sea, with bands and terraces populated by beautiful plants.  This is the giardino esotico Pallanca, a spectacular naturalistic monument built by the descendants of Bartolomeo Pallanca. There are 3200 species of plants, among which the precious collection of cacti stands out,  being the most important in Italy and one of the most prestigious in Europe. The oldest plant - a “Copiapoa” native to Chile, which grows on the slopes of the Andes - is three hundred years old.

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In the morning transfer to Dolceacqua in Valle Nervia, from where you depart for a hike in the places of origin of the Doria family, the Dogi of the magnificent maritime republic of Genoa. The excursion unfolds between Dolceacqua, Isolabona, Apricale and Perinaldo to explore an impressive and luxuriant natural landscape,  a land of olive trees and vineyards, and of exquisite medieval villages, where the oldest traditions have been preserved intact.

In the afternoon transfer to the Giardini Hanbury at La Mortola: an exotic paradise of 18 hectares, created in 1867 by Sir Thomas Hanbury, who acclimatized species from around the world, as the result of collections made on his travels.  In all seasons this garden celebrates its greatness amongst paths, pergolas,  greenhouses, terraces and wells.

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In late morning transfer to the port of San Remo to board the Corsara boat, where with the help of a marine biologist you will embark on this exciting journey, lasting about 6 hours, looking for whales, sperm whales and dolphins.  The “Santuario dei Cetacei Pelagos“, which covers the stretch of sea between the Italian Riviera, Elba and Corsica, was established in 1993 by Italy, France and the Principality of Monaco as a testimony to the international significance that the phenomenon has reached in recent years – it aims to protect more than 2000 cetaceans belonging to eight different species that populate the Ligurian Sea during the summer season.

Tour available from June to October for individual customers.

Excursion available year round by reservation for groups of at least 50 people.
The trip is not made in the event of adverse weather conditions.

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