About the beginning of the first century B.C., in the middle of the period of Roman domination, despite the destruction and sacking of the city by Marcellus, there are still accounts of the luxurious gardens of Siracusa. But for many centuries after, the fortunes of history confined the city’s residential area strictly within the walls of Ortigia, permitting therefore only the most limited green spaces. The first real gardens arose in the many monasteries founded in the sixteenth century. After the 1693 earthquake, which destroyed the architectural patrimony of the city almost entirely, sacred and secular alike, new gardens were laid out within the walls of convents and private houses. The range of plants was limited, preference being given to vines and fruit trees. After the Unification of Italy what had historically been the green places in Ortigia were further reduced and destroyed, as convents and monasteries were converted into government offices and homes for Piedmontese functionaries.
The earliest examples of public green spaces were the Villetta Aretusa, the Passeggio Adorno, and later the gardens of the Foro Romano. Quite different in character were the gardens outside the walls of Ortigia, where the open country was dotted with small private plots of land and orchards. Further away from the city the masserie - fortified farmhouses - began to appear, most of them from the eighteenth century; these were organic complexes of buildings, set in the midst of estates or feudal domains. Generally the masserie did not possess gardens in the true sense of the word. Such as there were were confined to spaces at the back of the building, closed in by high walls and a gate, taking inspiration from the concept of the hortus conclusus, the medieval secret garden.
Later, at the end of the nineteenth century, in the Teracati district north of the city, groups of villas began to develop. Their gardens were more spacious, since it was an artificial landscape integral to the villa building that was sought. Over the course of time, and worthy of a mention for their uniqueness and because their functions were different from those of the usual private gardens, came the parks and gardens constructed early in the twentieth century around hospital buildings: the Neuropsychiatric hospital, the Ospedale Rizza (formerly the tuberculosis clinic) and the former Foundling Hospital. These green spaces, designed primarily in the interests of health and hygiene, were placed well away from the built-up environment to ensure above all the psychological well-being of the patients.