Botanical Garden of Padova
The botanical garden of Padova, founded in 1545 after deliberation of the Senate of the Venetian Republic, is the world’s oldest academic garden that has been preserving throughout the centuries its original location and, despite some modifications at the beginning of the 18th century, its main scientific and architectonical features too. Its exceptional structure derives partly from its high scientific interest in terms of experimentation, educational activity and botany collecting, and partly from the uniqueness of the architectonical features, that have made it a model for similar institutions in Italy and in the world: from Leida to Lisbona, including Uppsala and Bratislava. This complex of extraordinary scientific, historic, artistic and naturalistic value is set in the middle of Padova’s historic centre, between the great basilicas of St. Anthony and St. Justina, in an urban area that includes, in the immediate vicinity, some complexes of great historic and artistic value such as the Prato della Valle, the Loggia and Odeo Cornaro, the Porta Pontecorvo and the 16th century city walls, at a small distance from the historic seat of the University of Padova and from the most important city monuments (Cappella degli Scrovegni, Palazzo della Ragione, Piazze and Battistero).
