Aboca Museum's Lunar Gardens: 27 Night-Blooming Herbaria on View

At Palazzo Bourbon del Monte in Sansepolcro, the Aboca Museum presents 'I giardini lunari' (The Lunar Gardens), an exhibition of 27 herbarium specimens from its Bibliotheca Antiqua. The show, running throughout summer 2024, explores nocturnal botanical species historically associated with moon gardens. The palace itself, built between the 17th and 18th centuries, was once a spezieria (pharmacy), as indicated by the inscribed stone 'PRODEST-OBEST' (it helps-it harms) at the entrance. The museum's multisensory route includes rooms dedicated to herb collection, drying, and pharmaceutical preparation, with alembics and mortars on display. The lunar garden concept dates to ancient Persian and Japanese civilizations, where night-blooming plants were arranged with fountains and mirrors to enhance visibility and meditation. In the 19th century, landscape designer Gertrude Jekyll coined the term 'moon gardens' for white and silver plant compositions. Featured species include the evening primrose (Oenothera), called 'fiore di luna' in Italian, which opens yellow flowers at dusk; Zaluzianskya, with intensely fragrant blooms that stay open until 11 a.m.; and the night-blooming cereus (Selenicereus), known as 'regina della notte,' whose eight-centimeter flowers last only one night. The exhibition is curated by Emma Sedini.