Botanical Garden (Orto Botanico)

If you're in need of some shade after having walked about Cagliari's city centre on a warm sunny morning, or indeed if you're a lover of plants, in particular special Mediterranean varieties, tropical or succulent species, then it's worth checking out the University of Cagliari's Botanical Garden, inaugurated in 1866. It's about 5 hectares big and features some 600 trees and 1,000 succulent plants. Located at the bottom of the Roman Amphitheatre (although there is no thoroughfare between these two places), the gardens also proudly include ancient Phoenician and Roman cisterns, now fertile breeding zones for water lilies and papyrus.