Recently I spent a wonderful few days on a short history of art trip to Syracuse in Sicily. The alternance of biblical rain and brilliant sunshine did nothing to mar the wonders of the trip, and fortunately the rain held off for our visit of the renowned Mediterranean garden of Il Biviere.
The Giardino del Biviere is found in a place that is rich in history and mythology, occupying a vast depression between the plain of Catania and the north slopes of the Hyblaean mountains, west of the Ionian Sea in Syracuse and was formerly a lake of mythical origins. According to the legends this famous lake is where Hercules, returning from Greece, found the goddess of agriculture, Ceres, looking for water. Hercules threw the skin of the defeated Nemean lion to the ground and water emerged forming the lake, which was thenceforth known as Lacus Ercules, or Hercules Lake. To remember this feat, the nearby city was called “Leontio”.
Over the centuries the lake changed its name of the time of Arab rule (832AD – 1060AD) Veveré, to Il Biviere, meaning watering place for animals. So abundant was Il Biviere in flora and fauna that for centuries to come it was favoured grounds for sportsmen right up until the 1930s. Fear of malaria led to the draining of the lake on Mussolini’s orders, and lushness gradually became an eyesore of dust and rocks.
The State Archives of Palermo hold the Edict of King Martino, who in 1392 gave the large, landed estate “Biviere di Lentini” to a paternal ancestor of Giangiacomo Borghese, who now owns the land. In 1968, his parents, Principe Scipione Borghese and his wife, Principessa Maria Carla Borghese, decided to move from Palermo and transform the abandoned land of dust and stones into a unique and special Mediterranean garden and citrus farm.
We were treated to a delicious lunch of local delicacies and a guided visit of the gardens with their majestic Washingtonia Robusta, collection of Agaves and lush palms.
Image credits: Alfio Garozzo
