Good observation, Carol. I noted three kinds of palms: Canary Island Date, True date and European fan. All do well and are common here in Florida and in California. I also noted loads of oleander but the locals didn't have the problem with the caterpillars that we do here. Especially in Rome, the streets were lined with umbrella pines which I loved. I'm not sure why we don't grow them here. Small sycamore trees were everywhere but none were of the size we are used to in the southeast US. I also saw some beautiful bougainvillea. Our guides told me the temps range from summer highs in the low 90s to winter lows in the 40s which is about the same as here. The big difference was rainfall as it was obviously much drier there; much like Southern California. Here are some foliage pics.
Jim
Small sycamores in Barcelona
Umbrella Pines in Rome
Bougainvillea and a splendid Canary Island date palm on the island of Cephalonia, Greece.
Huge oleander in Lecce, Italy.
