Italy in Photos

Corso Porta Mare, 44121 Ferrara, Italy (June 2018)

Orto Botanico dell’Università di Ferrara

Tucked into the heart of Ferrara at Corso Porta Mare, the Orto Botanico dell’Università di Ferrara is a serene and scholarly green retreat. Covering approximately 4,500 square metres, this botanical garden is operated by the University of Ferrara and welcomes visitors free of charge on weekday mornings .

Founded in 1771 by the directives of Pope Clement XIV, the garden was established to support academic experiments and the teaching of botany, at a time when Ferrara’s university, founded in 1391, was already a flourishing centre of medical and botanical study. Its initial location was within the gardens adjacent to Palazzo Paradiso, before relocating in 1963 to its current site at Palazzo Turchi-Di Bagno.

Today, the garden’s living collections include approximately 2,000 plant species total, about 1,300 housed in its greenhouses and around 700 displayed outdoors. These are thoughtfully organized into five thematic sections to aid discovery and education:

Systematic Section: Arranged by botanical classification with sectors for pteridophytes, gymnosperms, monocots, eudicots, and more Useful Plants: Grouped into orchard plants, industrial, use species, aromatic herbs, and medicinal varieties.

Themed Gardens: Includes charming sub-areas such as rock gardens, shade corners, Mediterranean, Italian, English, and Japanese gardens, as well as aquatic and hygrophilous sections.

Exotic Plants: Featuring tropical and subtropical species, carnivorous plants, epiphytes, succulents, water plants, moved into the open air during warmer months for display .

Protected Flora: Since 2004, dedicated to rare aquatic, terrestrial, halophilic (salt-tolerant), and psammophilic (sand-loving) species, underscoring the garden’s conservation role.

Complementing its living collections, the garden houses a Herbarium containing nearly 16,000 dried plant specimens, both historical and modern. Officially recognized in the global Index Herbariorum under the acronym **FER**, this collection enhances botanical research and scholarship.

The garden’s layout, greenhouse design, and plant curation reflect both academic utility and public engagement. It is also an active participant in international botanical collaboration, publishing an Index Seminum, an annual seed and spore catalogue shared with over 250 institutions worldwide.