Symbolic

We’ve seen a lot of ceramic pine cones in Sicily. We’re told that, in this culture, the pine, as an evergreen tree, stands for health, vitality and constant renewal and is also associated with the divine, eternity or immortality. The pine cone with its hundreds of seeds stands for fertility and prosperity.

 This one, in the gardens of the Norman Palace in Palermo, is placed immediately in front of a mature Moreton Bay Fig tree, a native plant from our home country in Australia. I wonder why a 100 or so year old specimen is growing here in Sicily?