Giardino dei Semplici, Bagnacavallo, Botanical garden in Bagnacavallo, Emilia-Romagna, Italy

The Giardino dei Semplici is a botanical garden established in 2004 on the grounds of the former Palazzo Graziani in Bagnacavallo, Emilia-Romagna. It holds over 300 types of herbs and woody plants, arranged in five sections: fruit trees, a rose garden, legumes, aromatic and medicinal herbs, and plants used by local people as food.

Gardens of this type, once called gardens of simple plants, were common in monasteries and noble courtyards across northern Italy, where they served to grow medicinal and culinary herbs. Palazzo Graziani, which stands beside the garden, dates from the 18th century and was expanded in the early 20th century, with frescoed rooms still visible inside.

The garden is also known as Giardino degli Aforismi because iron benches are engraved with quotes by Leo Longanesi, a writer and satirist born in Bagnacavallo. The sentences invite visitors to pause and think, turning a walk through the garden into a small reading experience.

The garden lies on the grounds around the former Palazzo Graziani and is open to the public every day of the year. It is a short walk from the centre of Bagnacavallo, in the Province of Ravenna. Visitors should note that the sources describe the garden as divided into five sections, not four.

Among the plants growing here are white sunflowers that can reach over 13 feet (4 meters) tall, a variety rarely seen in Italy and more commonly grown in England. This makes the garden a living archive of forgotten varieties that would be hard to find elsewhere in the country.