Stone pines, their fragrance rushing in the car’s window, suddenly gave way to gnarled shrubs, succulents and thickets of scraggly rosemary climbing over limestone outcroppings.

Close to the city lie oases of trees and gardens such as the monastery enclosure of La Parral, with its noticeable stone pines.

To see stone pines, and marble gods, In garden alleys—red with roses— The Perch where Pio Nono nods; The Church where Raphael reposes.