Orto Botanico di Portici, Botanical garden in Portici, Italy.

The Orto Botanico di Portici covers 20,000 m² on Via Università, on the upper park of the Reggia di Portici. Its core is the Giardino Soprano, planted with perennials, beside the smaller Giardino Segreto for annual and study plants; a 1,000 m² heated greenhouse holds the succulents, with a fern grove and a palm grove among the beds.

The garden was founded in 1872 when two ornamental gardens were transformed into a botanical research facility after the royal family departed. A professor at the local university directed this transformation and established it as a place for research and teaching.

The garden keeps the name Orto Botanico di Portici from the royal site, but since 1872 it has served the Reale scuola superiore di agricoltura, later the agriculture faculty of the University of Naples Federico II. Nicola Antonio Pedicino split the former ornamental grounds into a Giardino Soprano for perennials and a Giardino Segreto for annual and study plants, a division still legible in the layout.

The garden is open on weekdays during limited morning hours and it's best to arrange a visit in advance. Spring and summer are the best seasons to visit, when the weather is mild and more plants are in bloom.

The desert collection holds over 600 species across Agavaceae, Aizoaceae, Cactaceae, Didiereaceae and Euphorbiaceae, with about 400 cactus species alone. Look for the Welwitschia mirabilis from the South African desert, alongside Alluaudia, Aloe and Kalanchoe from South Africa and Madagascar. A heated 1,000 m² greenhouse shelters the succulents.