Built in 1545 as Facuty of Medicine “Orto dei Semplici”, was reorganized by the architect Andrea Moroni.
It is the oldest university botanical garden in Europe and houses important collections of historical plants including: Chamaerops humilis L., called “palm of Goethe”, planted in 1585, currently the oldest plant; Eastern Platanus L. 1680; Ginkgo biloba L. 1750; Magnolia grandiflora L. 1786, etc .. Among the sections: medicinal plants, poisonous plants, insectivorous plants, Euganean Hills plants, aquatic plants, succulent plants, rare plants and endangered plants of the dunes, a collection of plants with labels in Braille for visually impaired, etc.
The Garden has a particular relevance also for its unique architectural structure. It still retains the old library. In 1997, the Garden of Padua has been included by UNESCO in the World Heritage List.
Thanks to major expansion work, concluded in September 2014, the Botanical Garden is now home of the new Garden of Biodiversity: a large glass case in which there are 5 different greenhouses, housing the different environments on Earth, from the rainforest, where moisture creates the best conditions for life, the more extreme views, where the cold makes the survival of plant species almost impossible.
