Parco Arciducale Arboreto
The Arboretum of the Archducal Park is a living botanic museum hosting an extraordinary array of plants, as well as sign-posted informative trails and one of the oldest sequoias in Europe.
Arco's Arboretum, or Archducal Park, has been named after Archduke Albert of Austria, who founded these botanic gardens in 1873. It hosts over 200 different species of plants and shrubs ranging from sequoias to Monterey cypresses, holm oaks and exotic plants, such as agaves, Indian figs, silk trees and yuccas.
The Arboretum can be fully defined as a natural museum, and it has been actually structured as one. This also depends by the fact it is managed by the Tridentine Museum of Natural Sciences, which has been responsible for it since 1993. An educational trail has been set up in the park featuring panels and labels, which describe each and every plant. Miniature vegetable landscapes have been designed to recreate the natural environment of its numerous sub-tropical or Asian plants, as well as lemon-houses, ponds and the slopes on which brooms grow. Thanks to its location close to Lake Garda, the area boasts a mild climate. As such the Arboretum is an interesting cultural attraction for both visitors and students alike. Yet it is also an academic research centre, which studies issues connected to the relationship between flora and climate conditions.