Piazza without plants or how history and botany have met in stone

Talking about my botanical garden I try to present the abundance of flora variety all over different places be it my garden, botanical garden in my city or gardens in places I’ve visited.I’ve found plants in art , pictures,music or literature,they make me happy when made of glass or pictured on a porcelain piece, I’ve actually seen plants everywhere.But what would it look like without plants?  Thinking about a place without plants I recognized a place I not only have known for a long time but that has since forever  been  one of my favorite places.It actually is one of the most beautiful piazzas I’ve ever seen. Although very small it bears certain grandiousness in it .This may be due to its date of origin,it may be because so many centuries have passed since 16-th century when this piazza was built , that times passed since then left delicate imprint of far forgotten sorrows in the walls of the palaces surrounding the white stone pavement made of Istrian stone with some petrified plants and fishes as fossils giving the invisible pattern to the stone bricks shining after so many centuries as water surface mirroring the history of Adriatic coast.And the history is rich here ,indeed.After prehistoric settlements were abandoned the Romans build their villas here to trade with olive oil and vine not recognising when history turned in favour of Venetian republic when magnificent Praetor palace was built to host many praetors,captains and city municipality.Venetian dodges visiting their province took part of their siesta behind these white stone walls letting only the tiny sound of a letter falling trough the stone bocca to disturb them for a minute.Bell from the nearby church was loud as pigeons flew back to Piazza San Marco in Venice, leaving behind the magnificent Loggia Caffe where first coffee in this part of the world has been served far before Stendhal arrived to sip his coffee  in Loggia overarching the mirror of white stone plaza staying calm despite centuries passing by without any flowers to decorate the place.Tourists like to come here today,me among them,capturing the moment of petrified time and listening to the silence of history.Having my machiatto there last Saturday ,observing old inhabitants of the city smoothly crossing thee empty plaza to buy the first wild asparagus in the market behind the place, I’ve discovered that even here beauty of plants stands by my side,paradoxically, decorating this white emptiness of the white beauty of stone elements.I had only to rise up my eyes to recognize the plants carved in stone, talking without words about an old stoneccuter loving his garden enough to leave an imprint of flora known to him in decorations of pilasters, portals and windows.Turns out this entirely shiny emptiness of plaza actually does bear beauty of plants with it, to stand here against centuries ,bringing calm to visitors, in spite of tiny weeds trying to survive in this world dedicated to stone carvings as memories of words lost far before.

The Praetor’s Palace in the central Koper Square (Slovenia)

Caffe Loggia