Although I spend most of the year attending to my first passion – gardening – I also love to travel, especially in Italy. I try to fit garden visits into my itinerary. I find that botanical gardens often have few visitors, and are usually tranquil places full of interesting plants.
In 2007 I was in Italy from late March to early April. Starting in Rome, I traveled by train to Orvieto, and then to Siena, and finally to Florence. I spent a few days in each city, and I sought out the botanical gardens in both Siena and Florence.
On a Saturday, I spent the morning exploring Siena. My first stop, since it opened early in the morning, was the Giardino Botanico, which is on Via Pier Andrea Mattioli, near the church of Sant’Agostino (not at the end of Via di Porta Giustizia, where the tourist map shows an Orto Botanico). The gardens are small, but charming; terraced onto a hillside and packed with plants.
