18TH CENTURY ROOF GARDENS IN THE OLD TOWN CENTRE OF CATANIA (SICILY)

Lying at the foot of Mount Etna, Europe’s highest volcano, Catania has a history of re-inventing itself given the number of earthquakes it has experienced - 1693 was unforgettable - and the smoking lava rivers which have for centuries radically changed the urban landscape. After the catastrophic seismic event of 1693, Catania bloomed with a new topography, architectural style and utilitarian and aesthetic concept for its gardens. In an urban landscape of multiple historical layers and significant archaeological finds, there are two roof gardens which have survived to the present day: the Asmundo Francica Nava Mansion garden and the Manganelli Mansion garden. In annexes to 18th century noble mansions, these two gardens of similar style have considerable botanical and artistic interest within a very important cultural context: they are absolutely unique at the heart of the city centre. The elegant patrician townhouse Asmundo Francica Nava is located in an area of particular historical and archaeological interest in the centre of Roman Catania just opposite the 2nd century theatre. On the same level as the “noble” or main floor and inaccessible to the public, there is an 18th century ‘roof garden’ of about 670 m2. The garden is marked by flowerbeds lined with volcanic stone, grey and white pebblestone pathways, exotic ornamental plants and the shell-shaped marble fountain. The Manganelli mansion, built in the early 18th century, lies in the old centre of Catania on an embankment between the 16th century walls of Charles V. The roof garden, one of the largest in Sicily with an area of about 1300 m2, was built at the level of the noble floor. It was designed as a place dedicated to ornamental plants and coolness in summer, a great luxury in a city rebuilding itself from the ruins of the 1693 earthquake. Today, following restoration work, the garden is made up of differently shaped geometric flowerbeds lined with kerbs of shell-shaped white calcareous stone, hedgerows and ornamental plants; the pathways have the typical grey and white pebblestone of Catania gardens at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. The acquired botanical data has helped determine the main floristic characteristics of the two gardens and their identification as reservoirs of plant diversity and history to be safeguarded, conserved and valorised also with regard to cultural tourism.