It's easier to give advice if you post photos of how it looks like now.

I thought of figs --they're Mediterranean.

I would have said European fan palms or citrus trees, but you are talking about shade. The Mediterranean plants I know want sun.

You could create a similar look by using tropical or subtropical shade lovers, for example a windmill palm or a climber on an ornate obelisk trellis. I would google for Italian iron trellis or obelisk trellis and for Floridanativeplants.

To make your area have more of a Mediterranean feel you need to think of trees that stay evergreen year round, shrubs that are low, vining plants and herbs. Mediterranean courtyards generally feature many potted plants and are tremedously homey and welcoming. I like your idea.

Suggestions include: Dwarf Italian cypress (Cupressus sempervirens 'Tiny Tower') as the center plant if the shade is not too dense, underplanted with varigated ivy, angelwing begonias and umpatiens for color.

You can also use crape jsmine and underplant with sweet potato vine, ivy, trailing begonias, etc. It depends on if you want one central plant with no underplantings or a mizture of plants. You can also use fountain grass, palms, etc. Let us know more details or a picture and it would help to better suggest the perfect plants. Linda

Building on what scents from heaven mentioned, if Dwarf Italian cypress is not available or too expensive, I think a podocarpus will look similar and perhaps easier to find, and perhaps less expensive. Please let us know what you select.
should be fun.

I had two potted Lowes topiary plants survive and look nice for about five years, but they received eastern sun exposure. Keeping them looking nice is a weary, mind numbing job. Then after you trim, you've got the mess on the floor and in the pots to clean up. (They're history now, for those reasons.)

I suggest large split leaf philodendruns: inexpensive, trouble free, shade tolerant and look great potted. A nursery employee warned me to keep them in their plastic pots because their roots are so strong they can break your pots!

Thanks for these ideas. Here are some photos - hope this helps you think of even more!

Am definitely needing help on the underplantings, too - I was thinking about keeping the larger plant in a pot within the planter to make switching out the underplantings easier.

Here is a link that might be useful: Before photos including pots and the patio

I'm a technophobe but am trying another method to show you the photos!

You're going to have a beautiful porch! After re-reading your original message, I don't think you'll like the split leaf philodendun because it won't have the height you desire.

Jan was kind enough to give me these directions for posting photos. (I had tried and tried to learn and had given up. This works...)

Photo posting instruction by another GW member.
Here's the basics:
I think it's easier to do all this if you have two browser windows open - one on photobucket and one on gardenweb.
Go to photobucket(dot)com and open an account. It's free, takes only a minute, and is no harder than signing on to GardenWeb. There are other photo posting services but I think this one is the easiest to use.
Once you have the account you'll see how easy it is to upload your photos to photobucket. You can set up sub-albums with one click of the mouse, so you can sort your photos into different subject (more on that below).
When they are there, you'll see three little 'addresses' under each picture. Highlight the middle one - the TAG line - and 'copy' it. (You can copy it by right clicking on your mouse and selecting 'copy', or by clicking on EDIT at the very top of your computer screen.)
Once it's copied, go to the GardenWeb message you are composing and paste the TAG line directly into the text of your message. Don't put it at the URL line under the text box. At this point you will only see text, but once you choose to view your message you'll see the photo. If it comes out too big, then go back to photobucket and choose the EDIT button over that photo. You'll have the option there to reduce the photo by 75, 50, or 25 percent. 75% makes it a good size for these messages, but 50% works too. Try both on different photos and see what you like.
Technically I think you can post as many photos as you want in each message but remember that not everyone has a high speed line and try to keep it to 5 or less. More than that makes it pretty slow to load for some.
Here's the sub-album tip about photobucket or any other service you use: set up sub-albums for different subjects so you don't end up with 200 photos in one album. For example, I have Garden 2005, Garden 2006, House Shots, Yard Sale (where I post photos for things I am selling through the newspaper or eBay), All the Muffins (pet pictures), etc. Besides making it hard to find something if you have it all in one album, if you ever decide to move photos later, any link you've posted on the web will be lost.