In an effort to restore the city’s botanical garden after it was severely damaged during the freak hailstorm of September 19, 2014, the Natural History Museum of the University of Florence recently launched a crowdfunding campaign.
In announcing the campaign, Colour the Giardino dei Semplici, president of the Natural History Museum Guido Chelazzi emphasized that the botanical garden is a resource not only for the university but also for Florence. One of the oldest in the world, it was originally built as an herb garden for Cosimo I de’ Medici in 1545.
The campaign, Colour the Giardino dei Semplici, has a twofold goal: to raise 20,000 euro to replant the garden with hydrangeas, azaleas and rare shrubs to welcome visitors with a rainbow of colour; and to restore the two greenhouses that hold orchids and bromeliads, respectively. The campaign will run until the end of March on PlanBee, the first web platform for ‘green’ projects in Italy. If it is successful, the garden will open as scheduled on April 1, 2015. Take part and donate at planbee.bz/it/project/4 (in Italian only).
