Parco Idrotermale del Negombo

In 1946, Duke Luigi Silvestro Camerini, humanist and great traveler, reached Ischia in quest of a place to found a park in which to express his great passion for botany. The enchantment of the place and its surprising similarity to the Bay of Negombo which he had admired in Ceylon caused the choice to fall upon San Montano Bay.

The nature of this environment finds one of its most significant expressions in the hot springs which are witness to the volcanic history of the Island of Ischia and in the possibility of using them in accordance with a tradition whose roots plunge into the classic age.
The present physiognomy of the park owes much to the work of Ermanno Casasco, the landscape gardener. His enthusiasm was that of creating a garden deeply anchored in the millenary culture of the place and rich with surprises and unexpected solutions.

Since 1998, he has inserted into the landscape of the park important sculptures by Arnaldo Pomodoro, Lucio del Pezzo, Laura Panno and Giuseppe Maraniello. In this garden, a privileged place for the man and nature relationship, the landscape complements the magnificence of plants brought from Australia, Japan, South Africa and Brazil.
Worth noting are examples of Orbea variegata (= Stapelia variegata), Hakea, Encephalartos, Macrozamia, Cycas media, Dasylirium, Erythrina, Schinus terebindifloria, a hundred-year-old Ficus magnolioides and the spectacular Eucaliptus ficifolia.
One of the most ancient Greek settlements in Western E.pe, the necropolis of ancient Pithecusa is located in San Montano Bay.
The Eubeans landed here around 770 BC attracted by the protected position of the bay offering their ships a safe haven from and heavy seas.