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L’Orto Botanico di Padova

Founded in 1545, it is the oldest university botanical garden in the world still in existence.

The primacy would belong to the Botanical Garden of Pisa, founded in 1544, had it not changed its location twice in the course of its history: in fact, the Tuscan institution has been at its current site only since 1591.

The Botanical Garden of Padua originated as a “garden of the simples” (that is, as a place to draw medicinal plants for therapeutic or study purposes) at the request of Francesco Bonafede, who in 1543 was tasked with teaching “materia medica” at the University of Padua, in order to make it easier for his students to learn and recognise the plants.
In 1545 a decree of the senate of the Republic of Venice approved its establishment: work began immediately.

The first prefect of the garden was, in 1547, Luigi Squalermo, known as Anguillara, who had almost 2,000 medicinal species introduced. In 1551 Anguillara was joined by Pier Antonio Michiel, already the creator of an admirable private garden, a connoisseur and lover of plant species and the author of an excellent illustrated herbarium.

In 1997 it was included in the UNESCO World Heritage list, with the following motivation:
The Botanical Garden of Padua is at the origin of all the botanical gardens of the world and represents the cradle of science, of scientific exchange and of the understanding of the relationship between nature and culture. It has contributed greatly to the progress of numerous modern scientific disciplines, in particular botany, medicine, chemistry, ecology and pharmacy. (Source: wikipedia)

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