Orto Botanico | S.ta Teresa di Gallura (OT)_

The project is part of a broader urban and territorial strategy for the redevelopment, relaunch and revitalisation of the central and coastal area of the town of Santa Teresa di Gallura: the main objective is to raise the level of attractiveness, urban and architectural quality and usability of the areas subject to the competition.

The design strategy revolves around the creation of a unified multipolar system, where renewed places of social gathering, tourist attraction and recreational function of urban and territorial significance are concentrated in the three nodes represented by Piazza Libertà, the area of the Spanish Tower and the areas surrounding La Rena Bianca beach. Within an integrated and sustainable perspective of redevelopment of the broader territorial context and enhancement of the high landscape and environmental value specific to the area, the project pursues a strategy of containing the pressure of motorised traffic on its seasonally most sensitive portions and establishes a new relationship with the coastline and the Spanish Tower, in synergy with a concurrent improvement of the usability of public space by pedestrians and more vulnerable users (children, the elderly, people with disabilities). With particular reference to landscape and environment, the design strategy is articulated around an integrated development of the green system — a widespread botanical garden — conceived in close relation with the system of pedestrian connections and designed spaces, existing or newly created, with the urban fabric and with the built space in the competition area. (…) Rosario Assunto, one of the pioneers of landscape art in Italy, always fought to preserve the integrity of landscape, which he defines as "a limited but open space; presence, and not representation, of the infinite within the finite." Driven by the necessary reorganisation of the plant environment of the competition area, we propose the creation of a widespread botanical garden, that is, a naturally recreated artificial environment that brings together a great variety of plants categorised for scientific purposes and for the education of visitors. The term "botanical garden" is considered a synonym of "botanic garden", although some consider the botanical garden as an environment for recreation and study, while the botanic garden has historically had a function of producing medicinal substances in quantities sufficient to supply a nearby hospital. Often associated with it are a library and a herbarium for the study and cataloguing of species: for this reason we propose, in the building currently occupied by the sea library, the creation of an information point, also capable of offering a specific library on the subject to complement the volumes currently available. In our proposal we envisage the elimination of Carpobrotus Acinaciformis, a plant species native to South America that has infested much of the headland, preventing the natural development of other species typical of the Mediterranean scrubland. Although striking during the flowering period, it cannot be compared to the beauty of the Sardinian heather present in the Gallura territory; furthermore, its ability to take root in adjacent areas, affecting the development of other species present, should not be underestimated.

In the project we have planned the introduction of the following species, all present in the Gallura territory:
American Agave "Agave Americana"
Corsican Crane's-bill (Erodium Corsicum)
Giant Reed "Arundo Donax L."
Common Golden Thistle (Scolymus Hispanicus) Montpellier Cistus "Cistus Monspeliensis"
Hare's Tail Grass "Lagurus Ovatus"
Mediterranean Curry Plant "Helychrisum Microphillum"
Narrow-leaved Ice Plant "Mesembryanthemum"
Sea Medick "Medicago Marina"
Balearic Spurge "Euphorbia Pithyusa"
Common Fig "Ficus Carica"
Prickly Pear "Opuntia Ficus-Indica"
Common Hottentot Fig "Carpobrotus Acinaciformis"
Sea Fennel Common Juniper "Juniperus Communis"
Mastic Tree "Pistacia Lentiscus"
Bonifacio Sea Lavender "Limonium Articulatum"
Myrtle "Myrtus Communis"
Wild Olive "Olea Europaea"
Yellow Horned Poppy "Glaucium Flavum"
Pellitory-of-the-wall "Parietaria Officinalis"
Stone Pine "Pinus Pinea"
Buck's-horn Dock "Rumex Bucephalophorus"
Sea Cotton "Otanthus Maritimus"
Gibbous Ragwort (Senecio Gibbosus) Velvet Campion "Silene Velutina"
Smilax "Smilax Aspera"
Smilace Smilax Aspera

photo credits: Sergio Chimenti