Orto Botanico 'D. Brescia'

At Sant'Eufemia a Majella, the park's D. Brescia Botanical Garden recreates environments of the central Apennines across more than four hectares. Its fifteen sections contain 570 plant entities, including 61 endemic species, along with woodland, rock and wetland habitats.

Why it matters

Rather than arranging plants only in beds, the garden reconstructs environments found across the Maiella. A regional-interest garden since 2001, it combines botanical displays with conservation and research work.

What to notice

The habitats progress from oak and beech woodland to mountain pine, rock and scree. Streams feed a pond with marsh and flooded-meadow plants; the grounds also host river crayfish, frogs and dragonflies. Themed sections include medicinal and food plants, a plant–insect garden, a rose garden, an arboretum and a showcase of traditional agricultural varieties. The park's botanical office maintains a herbarium of more than 2,000 specimens.

Context and history

The garden is in the upper Orta valley between Morrone and Maiella, near Sant'Eufemia a Majella. The Abruzzo Region recognised it as a garden of regional interest in 2001 under L.R. 35/1997. Its emblematic plant is Soldanella minima subsp. samnitica, a subspecies found only on the Maiella.