The Fossa della Garofala is a still visible strip of the landscape of the Conca d'Oro, the great plain on which the city of Palermo and its surroundings extend.

In 1950, the University of Palermo bought the lands previously belonged to Louis Philippe duke of Orlèans, King of France (from 1830 to 1848), who came to Palermo in 1809 to marry the daughter of Ferdinand III of Borboun, starting the realization of an elegant garden. It was described in the second half of the 19th century as one of the most beautiful garden in Italy and even in Europe.

The name comes from Onofrio Garofalo, who at the end of the 15th century was the owner.

Its history gives back the traces of the many uses that have followed one another over the centuries, and that have determined its current configuration. Even today, a large number of artefacts are still preserved, such as to attest to a real “water system” of Arab origin. This  place is characterised by fragrances, colors, monumental arboreal specimens and large expanses of citrus grove.

The peculiar geological conformation of the site has determined its utilization as an open air cave for the extraction of building material, from the Punic and Roman period until the 17th century. The presence of hypogeums with galleries, of uncertain age, also feeds the hypothesis of a burial use. The findings of elephants fossils, now preserved in the geological Museum “G.G. Gemmellaro” in Palermo, are of particular interest.