A Palm Trip Along The Via Aurelia

The coast road of northwest Italy is a paradise for palm lovers.
Tobias Spanner, Tizianstr. 44, W-8000 München 19, Germany
Chamaerops No. 3, published online 23-11-2002

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Left: Heaven must be like this: One of the many gardens along the Via Aurelia. Note Butia, Jubaea, Chamaerops & Livistona australis.
Right: Look but don't touch: Heavily armed Trithrinax campestris.

The Italian Riviera is widely known and greatly appreciated by Northern Europeans for its very agreeable climate. A great variety of palms and other exotic plants is grown here.

Along most parts of the Riviera, the slopes of the Ligurian Alps descend quite sharply into the sea, and here the coastline is very narrow. The range of mountains provides good protection to the coast, and the moderating influence of the sea further adds to the mildness of the climate.

Although many palms would be able to grow further inland, it is along the coastline in the cities that we are able to see the rarest and the choicest. Only an occasional Phoenix canariensis, Trachycarpus or Chamaerops can be found in some little villages uphill.

Even so, a trip to the Ligurian Alps can still be very interesting. I was most fascinated by the dry oak forest and scrublands, which are mainly found over 400m, above the vast olive tree groves. Many interesting shrubs like Cistus, Myrtus, Pistachia etc. and many, many rare flowers, birds and butterflies are everywhere. The best time to go there is April or May when the wild flowers are a riot of colour.

To see the many beautiful palms of the Riviera, a trip along the Via Aurelia, the main Street winding along the coast, is most rewarding. All of the gardens described here can be found directly along the Via Aurelia, or at least very close to it.

I begin most of my trips in the old and famous city of Genova, where the highway from the north meets the coast. Since Genova lacks some of the protection that cities further west have from the Ligurian Alps, it is more susceptible to frosts, however, the fact that not many palms are to be found here is more likely to be due to a lack of enthusiasm among Genovan gardeners. A few kilometres east and west of the city many palms of the common species can be observed, but I think it doesn't really get interesting before one gets west of Albenga.

The most common palms along the Riviera are certainly Phoenix canariensis and Chamaerops humilis. These two seem particularly well suited to the climate and dryness in summer and succeed in places where other plants are having a hard time. Together with Washingtonia, they are also the only palms to be self-reproducing in undisturbed locations. The 'Canary Island Date Palm' is represented by many old and large trees, and if well grown, really is an impressive sight. Other common palms along the Riviera are Washingtonia filifera and W. robusta, an occasional Phoenix dactylifera, and some Trachycarpus fortunei, which seem very unhappy in Italy's hot & dry summers, most of them having only a few leaves, with dried tips. So different from the lush specimens in northern Italy, around the lakes! The first really interesting city west of Genova is Imperia, the capital of Liguria. The coast from here to Monaco has the mildest climate in all of France and Italy together, with the exception of Sicily. The January average temperature is over 10¾C and the absolute minimum has never fallen below -2¾C. This is the region of the Riviera, where the largest variety of palms and other exotic plants can be found.

In Imperia, there are many fine public gardens and parks and rare palms that can be found there include Brahea armata, a very nice grove of fruiting B. edulis, tall Livistona australis, L. chinensis and Butia capitata.

After a pleasant drive further along the Via Aurelia, one reaches San Remo, well known for its Casino. San Remo's public places are imaginatively planted with many palms, including those less often seen, such as Rhapis excelsa and Syagrus romanzoffianum. There is a Butia capitata var. strictior, and one Butia eriospatha, with its distinctive, woolly spathe. An Archontophoenix cunninghamiana, in a private garden, provides living proof of San Remo's mild climate.

The east side of the city has many official buildings and hotels, and these usually have nice little gardens, often planted with palms, including the rarer ones. Perhaps the most interesting of these is the 'Villa Communale'. Beside the expected species that hardly merit a second look amongst such a profusion of palms, one finds Brahea armata with its beautiful, blue leaves, and also a creeping specie of Brahea, probably B. dulcis, Livistonas, unusual heavily branching Phoenix dactylifera, P. roebelenii, and, best of all, a striking specimen of the extremely rare Trithrinax campestris, surely one of the world's most fabulous palms.

A small area near the park has recently been planted with many young palms including Sabal, Jubaea, Rhapis, even Chamaedorea and Caryota, which is certainly not noted for its frost tolerance. Let's hope it survives. Caryota has been tried on the Riviera before, but was killed by frost after a few years. It would surely be an uncommon, novel sight, (and fast growing!).

I guess the most interesting place to see palms in San Remo is the garden of the San Remo Auditorium, just a few hundred metres west of the Casino. It not only has one of the nicest collections of adult hardy palms, but is also very well cared for, unusual among the often neglected public gardens of the Riviera. Easily mistaken for a Washingtonia because it was so tall, I noticed an ancient Brahea armata, certainly well over a hundred years old. Brahea edulis is also there, along with Butia capitata (tasty fruits!), many tall Livistona australis, a beautiful Rhapidophyllum hystrix - the Needle palm - with, to prove it, ferocious long spines, Jubaea chilensis, Rhapis excelsa, Sabals minor and palmetto, a Trachycarpus 'Wagnerianus' (appropriate for the Auditorium garden I thought, hoho!), and a heavily armed (don't touch), multi-trunked specimen of the fantastic, blue leaved Trithrinax campestris. It's cousin is also there, Trithrinax acanthocoma, from a distance looking for all the world like a sophisticated Trachycarpus fortunei, until you get up close and notice the trunk tightly bound with an intricate network of spines and fibres. Beautiful!

A few kilometres further west, one can drive through a peculiar avenue of palms, in Ospidaletti. It consists of a lot of inter-mixed Brahea. Phoenix, Syagrus and Washingtonia. An adjacent park, right on the coast, has some interesting varieties of Chamaerops humilis.

For those who like cacti, the "Giardino Esotico Pallanca", east of Bordighera, will be interesting. Besides all the cacti, they have planted out some small palms, among them, surprisingly, a Latania. I was told that these palms are not protected during the winter; it will be interesting to see how this baby survives.

In Bordighera itself I came upon a small, well-maintained park, planted mainly with palms. Among the 'commons' it has a large multi-stemmed Phoenix reclinata, and a moderate, bluish, fan-leaved palm, which I took to be Brahea dulcis.

One of the more well known of the Botanic Gardens on the Riviera is the "Giardino Hanbury" at Mortola, only a few kilometres east of the Italian-French border, also directly on the Via Aurelia. The garden was founded in 1867 by Thomas Hanbury and has been one of the most important in Europe before World War II when it was badly damaged. In fact, some of the palms retain big holes and scars in their trunks, probably caused by allied bombing.

"Giardino Hanbury" is located on a very steep slope directly at the shore and houses a few thousand species of plants, among them a wonderful collection of Cycads (note the Encephalartos spp.) and many old palms: Syagrus, Brahea armata, the rare Brahea dulcis, Jubaea chilensis, Phoenix reclinata, and several species of Sabal, one of them possibly S. mexicana. Chamaerops humilis is spreading all over the garden. Some other plants to see are Bananas, Yuccas, many Cacti and Citrus, and a good number of Australian natives. The garden has been somewhat neglected recently, but for a few years now has belonged to the University of Genova and is currently being reconstructed and replanted in many areas. I feel sure it could house a much greater number of palms; it should rarely experience any frost.

Well, that brings us right up to the border with France. The coast road continues west, and there are many other gardens to investigate on the French side as it passes along the Cote d'Azur. Join me next time for a continuation of this "Palm Trip along the Via Aurelia". It is certainly a paradise for the palm enthusiast.

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