Orto Botanico di Parma

The University of Parma's botanical garden combines historic greenhouses, planted collections and herbaria. Its eighteenth-century development reflects the use of living plants and preserved specimens in the teaching of medicine and botany.

Why it matters

The garden was established under botanist Giambattista Guatteri in 1768, following an earlier tradition of medicinal-plant cultivation. Its collections connect garden design with the work of successive university botanists, including Giorgio Jan and Giovanni Passerini.

What to notice

The central Italian-style parterre contrasts with the arboretum and a sector arranged in the English landscape manner. The historic greenhouses are associated with Ennemond Alexandre Petitot's designs and were completed in 1793. A ginkgo planted in 1791 gives the living collection a direct link with the garden's early history, while herbaria preserve a different record of botanical study.

Context and history

Ducal patronage supported the garden's eighteenth-century form. Nineteenth-century additions included the school of botany and further cultivation spaces. The garden's scientific identity rests on the relationship between plants, buildings, specimens and teaching materials, distinguishing it from an ornamental public park.