The oldest university garden
Founded in 1545 by the Republic of Venice for the University of Padua, the Orto Botanico di Padova is the oldest university botanical garden in the world still in its original location, and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. It was created as a "hortus simplicium", a garden of medicinal plants, the "simples", so that students of medicine could learn to recognise them, and it played a fundamental role in the development of botany and in the introduction of exotic plants to Europe, such as the potato, the sunflower, the lilac and sesame.
The original part, the Hortus Cinctus, is a circular garden enclosed by a wall, symbolising the world, divided into four quarters by paths oriented to the cardinal points, with flower beds of geometric shapes and fountains. It contains about 6,000 plant species, including the famous Goethe's palm, a dwarf fan palm planted in 1585, which inspired the poet's reflections on the metamorphosis of plants during his visit in 1786, and the oldest plant in the garden. Next to the historic garden, the Garden of Biodiversity, opened in 2014, has large greenhouses that recreate the climates of the Earth, from the tropical rainforest to the desert.
Tip: the garden is a short walk from the Basilica of St Anthony; allow at least an hour and a half.
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