The Giardino della Gherardesca in Florence is the largest private garden in the historic center of the Tuscan capital. Originally facing the homonymous palace, it was restored in 2008, the year that saw the transformation of Palazzo della Gherardesca into a five-star hotel. The garden is believed to have been founded by Friar Durante Chiermontesi and is said to have hosted 3,488 exotic plants, oranges and lemons. After the killing of the friar the garden was destroyed, in the seventeenth century the garden was partly rebuilt by Bartolomeo Scala who, in the eighteenth century, will sell it to the Della Gherardesca. This garden has been restored according to the project of the nineteenth century and houses rare and endangered botanical species. Among the most remarkable are: the yew, an evergreen decorative plant known as the most long-lived in Europe, and the tuia, an aromatic conifer also called "tree of life" for its homeopathic properties.