3 November 2017
Biviere Gardens
The legend goes that it was here that Hercules, a son of Jupiter's, offered the hide of the Nemean lion he had defeated to Ceres, goddess of agriculture, and had a lake built, 'Lacus Erculeus', which owes its name to him; at a later date this same lake was to be called 'Beverč' by the Arabs, that is to say watering place for flocks and fish hatchery.
The Palermo State Archives house the original document of King Marino's Edict (1392) documenting that the feud going by the name of ''Il Biviere di Lentini'' was granted to one of the maternal ancestors of the present owner, Don Scipione Borghese.
Reclaimed in the thirties to combat malaria, the lake was deserted by fishers and hunters alike and the house turned into a heap of stones and dust. If the place has been granted a new lease of life, it is thanks to the love for plants and the enthusiasm of the present owner, Maria Carla Borghese, who on their own, without the assistance of architects or landscapists, have turned the place into a truly unique Mediterranean garden.
Lush palms, blue Jacaranda, the sunny flowering of Parkinsonia, old roses intertwining with the Jucceae and a remarkable collection of succulents flanking the piers of the antique port charm the visitor, plunging him into spaces where harmony is the colour of oranges and scented with jasmine.
The Palermo State Archives house the original document of King Marino's Edict (1392) documenting that the feud going by the name of ''Il Biviere di Lentini'' was granted to one of the maternal ancestors of the present owner, Don Scipione Borghese.
Reclaimed in the thirties to combat malaria, the lake was deserted by fishers and hunters alike and the house turned into a heap of stones and dust. If the place has been granted a new lease of life, it is thanks to the love for plants and the enthusiasm of the present owner, Maria Carla Borghese, who on their own, without the assistance of architects or landscapists, have turned the place into a truly unique Mediterranean garden.
Lush palms, blue Jacaranda, the sunny flowering of Parkinsonia, old roses intertwining with the Jucceae and a remarkable collection of succulents flanking the piers of the antique port charm the visitor, plunging him into spaces where harmony is the colour of oranges and scented with jasmine.
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Know'st thou the land where the lemon-trees bloom, Where the gold orange glows in the deep thicket's gloom, Where a wind ever soft from the blue heaven blows, And the groves are of laurel and myrtle and rose!- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - |
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