Giardino Botanico 'Michele Tenore'

The Michele Tenore Botanical Garden at Colle Madonna, above Lama dei Peligni, presents the flora of the Maiella and central Apennines. Its cultivated habitats connect botanical study with the mountain's traditions of plant use.

Why it matters

Founded in 1995, the garden is dedicated to the botanist Michele Tenore, whose exploration of the eastern Maiella in 1831 contributed to knowledge of its flora. Its emblem is Centaurea tenoreana, the Maiella cornflower associated with the Maiella and Morrone massifs.

What to notice

Different sections evoke Mediterranean scrub, rocky slopes and higher mountain vegetation. Dye plants and medicinal species add an ethnobotanical dimension, recalling the local magari, or folk healers. A reconstructed Neolithic agricultural plot and older crop varieties connect cultivated plants with human history. Endemic species illustrate the distinctive flora of the central Apennines.

Context and history

The garden developed beside the Maurizio Locati natural history museum as part of the Colle Madonna complex. Recognition as a garden of regional interest followed in 2000. Its combination of botanical collections, habitat representation and traditional plant knowledge makes it a place where scientific and cultural histories of the Maiella meet.