Today we tell you about an unusual weekend with the theme: “The future in our hands”.

It was a journey so full of emotions and experiences that it was necessary to divide the story into two parts.

Are you ready to fall in love with this new adventure?

As usual, we leave early, have a coffee break, and get back in the car heading to Palermo.

This time we are the ones being catapulted into a completely new experience, where the only keyword is “CONTACT WITH NATURE”, to be shared with unknown people and without having any anticipation of the program that awaits us. We can’t wait to find out what it is!

The Botanical Garden of Palermo and the journey among plants

The meeting place is the Botanical Garden of Palermo, where we find part of the group waiting for us, together with the two organizers Beppe and Emilio, and it is right here that our experience begins.

Accompanying us in this first adventure is Antonio, who will take us around the world through thousands of plants of different species and origins: from the desert to the East, all the way to Latin America and Africa.

We begin our walk in the square in front of the garden, where the busts of the founders stand out: from Agostino Todaro to Padre Bernardino da Ucria, up to Francesco Bruno and Vincenzo Tineo, key figures in the history of the botanical garden and Sicilian botany.

We then enter the Gymnasium, a neoclassical structure rich in statues, frescoes, and historical collections of seeds, woods, spices, and herbaria that are still studied today by researchers and university students.

From the greenhouses to the Ficus: a world to discover

Our journey around the world begins in the desert, among succulent plants and species adapted to drought, and continues to the tropical and subtropical greenhouses.

We visit greenhouses of every kind: orchids, carnivorous plants, ferns, and exotic plants such as coffee and the traveller’s palm.

Among the curiosities we find the “bottle tree”, capable of storing water in its trunk, and the “cotton tree”, from which a soft fluff similar to cotton is obtained.

There are also surprising encounters with the “soap tree”, whose seeds produce natural foam when in contact with water.

Making everything even more magical is the presence of free-roaming parakeets, now permanent inhabitants of the garden.

The most emotional moment comes in front of the majestic Ficus magnolioide, the most representative specimen of the Botanical Garden, considered the tree with the largest crown in Europe.

Here we stop for a moment of sharing, sitting in a circle among its roots, reflecting on the question: “Where do we feel our roots?”

Sant’Ambrogio and the nature of the Madonie

After the visit we continue towards the sea for a lunch based on pane and panelle and local specialties, accompanied by the sun of Palermo.

In the afternoon we reach Sant’Ambrogio, where we discover the old oil mill and taste local olive oils once again.

We walk through the narrow streets of the village until we reach the “social oven”, a space regenerated for the community and the sharing of local traditions.

We refresh ourselves with the famous “dog’s heart”, a drink made of tonic water and lemon granita, very popular in the province of Catania.

Finally, we arrive at Serra Guarneri, a protected nature reserve of the Madonie Park, a place immersed in greenery that immediately reconnects us completely with nature.

Continued…

Photos: Isolani per Caso and Helen