Francesco Maria Raimondo was full professor of Botany at the University of Palermo and president of the Italian Botanical Society. Actually he is president of OPTIMA (Organization for the Phyto-taxonomic Investigation in the Mediterranean Area). Since 1991 he has been editor or co-editor of national and international scientific journals, including Flora Mediterranea and Bocconea. He was Director of the Botanical Garden of Palermo for 21 years. Between 1998 and 2006 he was Dean of the Faculty of Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences of the University of Palermo. In 2016 he was awarded the OPTIMA Gold Medal. His research interests range across many fields of botany: from floristics, to taxonomy, to phytosociology, to pharmaceutical botany, to history of Botany, to conservation and evaluation of plant biodiversity, to historic gardens and the design and management of public green spaces.