Orto Botanico dell'Università di Pavia

The University of Pavia's Botanical Garden combines living plant collections with historic greenhouses and an arboretum. Founded in 1773, it preserves the relationship between botanical teaching, scientific collecting and garden architecture.

Why it matters

The garden belongs to the university's long scientific history. Its changing collections record different approaches to studying plants, from medicinal uses to the adaptation of species from contrasting environments.

What to notice

The Serre di Scopoli have two wings linked by a central section. Their collections of cycads and succulents illustrate very different plant forms. In the arboretum, a monumental hybrid plane tree is traditionally associated with Scopoli and a planting in 1778. The rose garden, medicinal plants and other specialised collections broaden the garden's botanical scope.

Context and history

Construction of the greenhouses began in 1776 to a design by Giuseppe Piermarini. Luigi Canonica substantially rebuilt them in the early nineteenth century, replacing earlier timber structures with masonry, stone and iron. The garden's surviving architecture therefore reflects continued adaptation, as successive generations reshaped its facilities for botanical study.