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The Padua Botanical Garden (Orto Botanico di Padova) is the world’s oldest university-run botanical garden still in its original location. It’s located in the historic city center of Padua, Italy, and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
History
The Padua Botanical Garden was created in 1545 with the approval of the Republic of Venice and is run by the University of Padova (Università di Padova). Its purpose was for the research and cultivation of medicinal plants. The garden helped evolve the study of botany from a medicinal science into its own independent scientific branch. There are currently over 7,000 species of plants in the entire garden.
Admission
Adult admission to the garden is €10 (as of June 2024). It’s open daily except working Mondays. Click here for more information.
Historical Garden Enclosure
After passing through the main gates, we bought our tickets and walked to the circular enclosure that protects the historical garden. There are four gates on the wall in each cardinal direction. The garden was once open but after a series of thefts a wall was built around it in 1704.
We entered from the west gate which features an ornamental flower on top of the posts and fountains distributing potable water at the base. At the eastern gate, there’s a fountain with a statue of Solomon behind it. The statue was made by Antonio Bonazza.
Historical Garden
The Padua Botanical Garden was designed by Daniele Barbaro. It follows a perfect pattern of a square inside a circle divided into four parts, with four main paths in each cardinal direction. A circular path encloses the square and intersect the main paths.
Each plant is labeled with its scientific name and origin. They’re all arranged in appealing symmetrical patterns throughout the garden. Currently, there are over 3,500 species in the historical garden.
The plants are divided into the following sections: insectivorous plants; medicinal and poisonous plants; introduced plants; plants from the nearby Euganean Hills and rare plants. The following types of plants have had their own habitats recreated in the garden: Mediterranean plants; alpine plants; freshwater aquatic plants; succulent plants; and orchids.
An irrigation system developed in the late 16th century provides water to all the plants. Aquatic plants such as papyrus are constantly fed warm water from a natural well 300m below the surface of the garden.
Goethe Palm
The oldest tree in the garden is enclosed in a glass greenhouse on the northeast side. It’s a palm planted in 1585 and nicknamed the Goethe Palm because it was mentioned in one of Goethe’s essays.
Biodiversity Garden
After spending some time in the historical garden, we walked over to the Biodiversity Garden. It’s a large greenhouse that contains about 1,300 plants divided into tropical, subtropical, temperate, and arid zones.
It’s a very high-tech solar building with a computer system that monitors feedback provided by the plants to optimize conditions in each climate zone.
Conclusion
Even if you aren’t into plants, this is a wonderful place to visit. It’s not only historical, but appealing to the senses as well. We counted it as the top attraction on our visit to Padua.
