“L’ordine e il metodo” da I giardini d’Italia (1904) di Luigi Paolucci. Edizione, studio e commento

Abstract

In the pages composing the second part of The Gardens of Italy, the naturalist Luigi Paolucci from Ancona (1849–1935), debating the “confusion now reigning in the catalogs” of ornamental gardening lovers (as he himself states in his Reason for the Present Work), performs a thorough examination of the plants growing and which are cultivated in Italy’s gardens, greenhouses, and parks “in order to arrange them within the natural families they represent”. Combining methodological accuracy inspired by Linnaean principles with a modern intent to popularize knowledge, Paolucci realizes a work that, through one hundred and forty-four families, undertakes the ambitious task of sorting out a highly complex natural landscape. At the same time, he attempts to enhance the contribution made “to the art of gardening from different parts of the world”, developing a compendium that, while aware of its own limitations, represents a valuable example of systematic botany.