At the Heart of Pisa’s Botanical Garden

Founded in 1543, the Botanical Garden of Pisa is the oldest university botanical garden in the world. A slightly forgotten garden to discover just a few steps from the famous Piazza del Duomo.

Originally built on the banks of the Arno River, the garden was moved to its current location in 1591, then gradually expanded to its present size of approximately two hectares. About 3,000 plants are cultivated there.

The Botanical Garden of Pisa was created by the Italian physician and botanist Luca Ghini.

The first academic botanical garden

Appointed as a professor at the University of Pisa by the Duke of Florence, Cosimo I de' Medici, Luca Ghini accepted on the condition that he could found a university "Garden of Simples." "Simples" was the name given to medicinal plants in the Middle Ages.

The Botanical Garden of Pisa is organized in such a way that it can serve as a support for the study and teaching of plants. It is the first academic botanical garden.

The beginnings of herbariums

During the time when Luca Ghini was teaching in Pisa and Bologna, the art of making herbariums—that is, drying and then pasting plants onto sheets of paper—was developing.

Luca Ghini himself used dried specimens for teaching, as well as with his colleagues. One of his students, John Falconer, would become the spreader of this new botanical tool. The herbarium would contribute to the dissemination of botanical knowledge through the numerous exchanges and visits between botanists.

The architecture of the garden

The garden is designed according to the criteria current at the time. The layout of the plants recalls the four elements: the square for earth, the circle for the sky, the triangle for fire, and the pools for water.

The garden underwent numerous transformations over the centuries. It expanded from the 18th century with the addition of greenhouses. In the 19th century, a new layout of the garden was implemented with smaller rectangular flowerbeds, interspersed with paths and low walls. The new requirements of botany indeed necessitated classifying and presenting plants according to scientific criteria that highlight biological affinities.

The current layout was achieved at the end of the 19th century.

In the garden, which we visited in August, one can find exotic and aquatic plants (some of which no longer exist), the pharaonic collection of plants from Egypt and examples from Pharaohs' tombs, the arboretum, and a greenhouse entirely dedicated to succulents.

A very pleasant visit protected from the bustle of the Piazza del Duomo.

Orto e Museo Botanico - University of Pisa: Via Luca Ghini 13 / Via Roma 56, Pisa, Tuscany, Italy.
www.ortomuseobot.sma.unipi.it/