General Informations

Hanbury Botanical Gardens Regional Protected Area

Land part: surface area 19.9 hectares; position, long boundaries: 7.547135° - 7.558516°, lat boundaries: 43.779339° - 43.786682°, centroid: long 7.552525° - lat 43.783116°.
Marine part (provisional data): surface area 4.634 km2; position, long boundaries: 7.534274° - 7.567424°, lat boundaries: 43.764981° - 43.789519°, centroid: long 7.552283° - lat 43.778553°.

The Regional Law n. 31 of 27 March 2000 established the “Giardini Botanici Hanbury” Regional Protected Area including an area within which the state-owned complex falls, given in perpetual free concession to the University of Genoa with Decree of the Ministry of Finance n. 74907 of 14 April 1999, other private and public properties, as well as a facing stretch of sea.

The aims of the Protected Area, referred to by the L.R. 31/2000 are:

  1. protect, promote and enhance the Gardens as an environmental, landscape and scientific heritage of extraordinary importance, integrating, according to principles of understanding and collaboration, the work carried out by the University of Genoa in its capacity as concessionaire of the real estate complex, and the the action of the state bodies responsible for the protection of cultural heritage;
  2. favour, promote and develop research activities and the use of the Gardens for scientific, cultural, social and educational purposes;;
  3. conserve regional endemic species, with particular reference to those subject to risk of extinction, to the endemics of the southern Ligurian Alps sector, to the endemics of the basal plane (halophytes, Mediterranean evergreen sclerophytes, thermophilic orchids);
  4. activate connection and address functions for the botanical gardens connected to the regional parks;
  5. activate consultancy and training functions in the botanical field for operators of protected areas;
  6. protect the stretch of sea facing the Hanbury Botanical Gardens from a biological and geological point of view, promoting the conservation of the species, ecosystems and mineral formations present;
  7. favour, promote and develop research activities and the use of the stretch of sea facing the Hanbury Botanical Gardens for scientific, cultural, social, educational and recreational purposes, also taking into account the activities traditionally carried out in the area.

The same L.R. entrusts the management of the PA to the University of Genoa, on the basis of a specific agreement. This agreement, signed on 1 August 2001 by the representatives of the Liguria Region and of the University (at the time the President Sandro Biasotti and the Rector Sandro Pontremoli) has a renewable thirty-year duration, and specifies that the University, for management, makes use of its own University Center "Hanbury Botanical Gardens".

The L.R. also establishes that the Managing Body, i.e. the University, makes use of a Coordination Committee whose composition is specified: the Rector of the University with the function of president, the President of the Province, the Mayor of Ventimiglia, the Superintendent of Environmental Heritage and architectural works of Liguria, the Superintendent of Archaeological Heritage of Liguria, the Director General of the Tourist Promotion Company "Riviera dei Fiori", the Director of the Hanbury Botanical Gardens. Each member has the right to be represented by his own delegate. For the marine portion, the Committee is supplemented by a representative of the competent state authority and by two experts in the field of marine environment protection nominated respectively by the Region and by the University of Genoa.

The Coordination Committee performs consultative and proposing functions on issues relating to the protected area, as well as liaison functions between the Bodies and Administrations of which it is composed; in particular, the Committee studies and proposes hypotheses for improving the accessibility of visitors, the usability of the Gardens in general, their promotion at national and European level.

The L.R. 31/2000 provides that the Coordination Committee is consulted by the managing body for the purpose of adopting the multi-year program to be transmitted to the Regional Council by 30 June of each year.

The L.R. 31/2000 provides within six months from the date of entry into force of the same law, the managing body and the Region, having consulted the local bodies concerned and in agreement with the competent state authority, the drafting of the perimeter plan, zoning, regulation and scientific, didactic and cultural enhancement of the stretch of sea facing the protected area "Giardini Botanici Hanbury".

In reality, many of the rules and provisions have not yet been fully implemented. In particular, despite several years later, in 2011 the deeds for the marine protection area (boundary and regulation), prepared according to the provisions and agreed with the interested parties (diving, boaters and fishermen, etc.), have never been definitively approved by the competent institutions and are still under discussion.

The multi-year plan of the PA discussed in the meetings of the Coordination Committee of 2009 and 2011, included various interventions, some of which have been completed, atriums in progress and others still to be started. It is expected to update this plan by June 2015.

Moreover, in 2009 with the L.R. no. 28 the University of Genoa, as manager of the regional protected area, was also entrusted with the management of the Sites of Community Importance (SIC) "Capo Mortola" and "Fondali di Capo Mortola-San Gaetano".

Area protetta - Giardini Botanici Hanbury

Area Protetta GBH

Last update 26 January 2023