Serra Subtropicale (Serra dei Congressi) of the Radicepura Botanical Park

The Serra Subtropicale belongs to the Radicepura Botanical Park in Giarre, on Sicily's east coast, at the foot of Mount Etna. The estate is that of the Faro family, Sicilian nurserymen: according to the park's website, the Piante Faro business grew out of a small shop in Aci Sant'Antonio, and the family bought the property in the early 2000s. The estate's mansion was built at the end of the 19th century by the engineer Mariano Panebianco for the Pennisi di Santa Margherita family, to serve a winemaking operation of more than a hundred hectares. The Radicepura Garden Festival, a biennial devoted to the Mediterranean landscape, held its first edition in 2017, and the terraced botanical garden is dated 2019.

It is within this setting that the park's website places, in 2010, the design of the large Serra Subtropicale, entrusted to the French-Algerian architect Nadir Guemida. The case study published by Eurac Research (Bolzano), which calls the building the "serra-congressi", describes it as a new construction built within a redevelopment of the property led by the architect Giuseppe Scannella, intended to create a conference and cultural centre starting from the original buildings; it places the photovoltaic integration between 2011 and 2015. The two names, Serra Subtropicale and Serra dei Congressi, appear on different pages of the park's website; the same architect, the same glass envelope and the same tropical plants lead to treating them as a single building.

The park's history page describes an "iron and glass structure". The events page speaks of a modern, functional glass building made up of a single hall of about 1,100 m² of usable floor space, able to host 900 people in theatre layout, 800 for a reception and 600 for a banquet. It states that the building is self-sufficient in water and energy thanks to solar panels, and that the roof and side openings are computer-controlled: the climate system operates side flaps, ridge vents and shading according to temperature and weather.

Eurac Research details the covering: 610 semi-transparent glass-glass modules (Scheuten Multisol, 168.8 Wp, 1,650 × 998 mm), fixed to the steel structure of the roof, facing south and tilted at 30°, over 1,005 m² for a power of 103 kWp. They act as solar shading for the space below, power heating, cooling and LED lighting, and cover, according to the study, the whole of the electricity consumption. The integration is presented as visually continuous, from outside and from inside. The modules' manufacturer, Scheuten Solar Systems, is listed as having closed.

The Radicepura history page names, inside the greenhouse, Ravenala madagascariensis, "centuries-old" ferns and large leaves of Alocasia and Monstera; the Grandi Giardini Italiani entry pairs the Ravenala with a Cyathea australis. Eurac Research speaks more broadly of Mediterranean and tropical species, and the events page mentions lush tropical plants framing the hall, without naming them. Outside, date palms shape the open-air areas.

The park around the greenhouse claims more than 3,000 species and 5,000 varieties on about five hectares of volcanic soil, including Encephalartos, rare cycads. The terraced botanical garden brings together aloes, succulents, cycads and palms and, since October 2022, a terrace of old citrus varieties run with the FAI and the Orto botanico of the University of Palermo.

The greenhouse stands at the far end of the botanical garden, in a park of about five hectares. The site can be visited by reservation only, from Monday to Saturday, and stays closed on Sundays. The Grandi Giardini Italiani entry lists the tropical greenhouse among the features of the place, and a July 2026 article presents it as one of the stops on a stroll with no fixed route; entry into the greenhouse is not announced for every visit, which is best asked when booking. Since it also hosts conferences, weddings and receptions, it may be occupied by an event.

The rest of the walk passes through the botanical terraces, the gardens and the works that came out of the Radicepura Garden Festival. The park's pages announce a butterfly house joining the site from 2026, without any confirmed opening.