Villa Trinità Gardens

Excavating in Sicily almost inevitably produces splendid vestiges from the distant past. The Villa Trinità Garden on the slopes of Etna sits on a series of stratifications stretching far back in time: remains of the Hellenistic civilisation followed by Imperial Roman emerge from the land giving colour and substance to the garden. In 1382 a lava flow covered everything, preserving treasures from the past under its bulk. Some of these have resurfaced whilst tilling the land and breaking the lava in order to plant grapevines.

The present owner of La Trinità, Salvatore Bonajuto, agronomist and garden designer, has created a garden over roughly 3 hectares keeping
any surviving elements from the past: the stone footpaths known as rasule, the irrigation channels (saie) and of course the lava, which is a protagonist throughout the park. The saie irrigation system makes a strong statement in the landscape and provides a legendary voice in the murmuring of its waters. A citrus grove still irrigated with this method and a vineyard bearing ancient local varieties of grape frame a botanical collection of plants from tropical climes, a garden within a garden since in Sicily ''garden'' is a citrus grove and ''villa'' means the ornamental garden. Strolling through the park one can admire palms, succulents, irises, exotic fruit bushes, a collection
of citrus trees and the Mediterranean maquis, with a majestic Celtis
australis, known as a ''stonebreaker''.

Amongst the areas of naturalistic interest is a patch of land with wild oak trees (Quercus pubescens), which once colonised the Etna slopes and a rocky outcrop, a natural lava basin which collects rainwater as a drinking trough for migrating cranes.