Trees of Palermo
Author: Hank Kune Issue: 2025-07-16
Trees of Palermo
text and photos by Hank Kune
The capital of Sicily is a city of many things: churches, palaces, villas, sculpture, statues, street markets, ice-cream and granite, baroque and Norman architecture, and with all of these, it is a city of trees.
Some of the oldest and most interesting ones are in a small park near the harbor: the Piazza Marina and its Garibaldi Garden. Take note of the Ficus macrophylla subspecies columnaris, the Australian banyan.
You can find them in other parts of the city, and other Sicilian cities too – but here there are several, in a park, together. The trees here are old, and large, and surprising, even when you have seen them before. They are a little like cities themselves, with the aerial roots from their branches, which become additional trunks when they reach the ground and support the enormous weight caused by the foliage.
There is a specimen here planted in 1864, more than 30 meters high and more than 20 in circumference. With its 10,000 cubic meters of foliage it is considered by the Accademia dei Georgofili to be the largest tree in Europe.
There are other beautiful trees in this park, and elsewhere throughout the city. Palermo is thriving, bustling, personal, beautiful -- and just when you think there is too much gray, or ochre, or brown, you will notice the green. Palermo is also a city of trees.
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