I thought I would talk a bit more about Hanbury Garden or Giardini Botanici Hanbury as it is known in Italian. This lovely garden is located just over the Italian border from Menton. You can walk along the Ligurian trail to it if you had enough energy. But we choose to drive when we visited it in October.

It is located outside of Ventimiglia in a hamlet called La Mortola. It was originally created by Sir Thomas Hanbury in 1867. Today the 18 hectares are maintained by the University of Genoa.

He encouraged plant hunters to send him exotic specimens that they collected. The warm microclimate in this section of the Riviera allowed the plants to naturalize and grow. There are extensive collections of succulents, cycads, and other semi-tropical plants mixed with bubbling fountains, terraces and winding stairs giving way to sea vistas. Also on the property is a lovely villa which unfortunately is not open to the public. But you can stroll along the logia and dream of what it might have been to live in this garden.

Giardini Botanici Hanbury from Wikipedia