Paolo Silvio Boccone (24 April 1633 – 22 December 1704) was an Italian botanist from Sicily, whose interest in plants had been sparked at a young age.

Born in Palermo, he often visited the botanical garden (l'Orto Botanico) founded in Messina by the Roman doctor Pietro Castelli, who became his instructor.

He published Recherches et observations naturelles (Paris, 1671; illustrated and greatly enlarged edition Amsterdam, 1674), which concerned itself with various theories of nature, and supplied important contributions to the fields of palaeontology, medicine and toxicology.

In the work Museo di piante rare della Sicilia, Malta, Corsica, Italia, Piemonte, e Germania (1697), Boccone described many rare plants of Sicily, Malta, Italy, Piedmont, and Germany.

After this conversion, Boccone is said to have dropped his avid study of botany, though he continued his travels.