Camellia garden in Sant’Andrea di Compito

Camellietum Compitese is a garden that hosts more than 1000 varieties of camellias. It has recently become a “Garden of Excellence”, an honour reserved to only another 39 places in the world. It is located in the Piana di Lucca, in Sant’Andrea di Compito, in an area full of rivers and historical villas, and intended for the preservation and protection of the “cultivars”, namely those varieties of plants obtained by man through cultivation and crossbreeding, prior to 1900.

Today, the Camellietum is a destination for cameliophiles and research centre for universities and botanists, as well as a park that hosts musical events and plays, meetings and conferences.

This garden, solely of camellias on terraced land crossed by a river, was created by the communities of S. Andrea and Pieve di Compito and the town administration of Capannori in 2002. Since then, the Camelieto, as it is now called, has experienced a slow but steady growth and now includes about one thousand specimens of “cultivar”, 250 of these are named. Some species at risk of extinction are also present.

This garden, which is unique in Italy, is open to visitors during the spring Exhibition ‘Ancient Camellias of Lucchesia’ held in Pieve di Compito and Sant’Andrea di Compito, and during the rest of the year by appointment.