We are now in front of the oldest part of the garden. In 1545 this space was rented to the monks of Santa Giustina for two ducats a year. It was a stone’s throw from the Sant’Antonio churchyard and also close to the Alicorno canal.

If we take a look at the walls we notice they form a circle. They were built a few years after the garden was founded, for the most mundane of reasons. Plants were tempting to many, either because they were really rare, or because of their properties: foxglove, hemlock or aconite, for example, are deadly poisons.

During the eighteenth century, the boundary walls were refurbished and embellished. Two stone vases – called acroteria – were placed above the pillars of the four doors, decorated with illustrations of plants considered rare at that time.

Now note another detail: a square is inscribed in the circle. It’s divided into quarters, and here the plants are organized in a precise, rational and systematic way. Along the circular walls the trend is more thematic: we find botanical collections, with very precious, rare or endangered plants, medicinal plants, and Euganean Hills plants.

If you look closely, each plant is located in its own small plot, called a parcel, and has its own tag, handwritten by the gardeners, indicating the Latin name, the family to which it belongs, the origin and, in the case of medicinal plants, its use.

In short, the ancient garden had a very specific order, not so much the result of planning but of the spontaneous association of different skills and the desire to find viable solutions. Francesco Bonafede was the designer and you will recall he was also the man who conceived the garden. He worked with his colleague, professor of medicine, Pietro da Noale; and one of their former students, the architect Daniele Barbaro. The construction site was managed by Andrea Moroni, who put his name to the most important architectural works of the time in Padua, including the ancient courtyard of Palazzo Bo, home to the University.

The eighteenth-century refurbishment we mentioned, not only modified the walls but also added fountains and the height of footpaths was raised to protect the garden from floods. Lead pipes drained the water from the Alicorno canal. Nowadays the garden relies on an artesian well almost three hundred metres deep, which supplies water at a constant temperature of about 24 Celsius - that would be 75,2 Fahrenheit. 
This is why subtropical aquatic plants can be grown in the open even in winter.

But let’s go back to the centre of the garden and linger for a moment to look for ginkgo and magnolia. They are tall and unmistakable.

Our Magnolia grandiflora probably arrived in the garden in 1786 and is one of the oldest specimens in Italy or even Europe. Did you know that the name “Magnolia” was chosen in honour of French naturalist Pierre Magnol, director of Montpellier botanical garden? And the specific title of “grandiflora” describes the huge, very fragrant flowers.

As far as our Ginkgo biloba goes, we know for sure that it’s been here since 1750, one of the first specimens to arrive in Italy. The ginkgo is a very ancient species, which has existed for 250,000,000 years, and is dioecious, which means there are both female and male specimens. Ours, however, is very special: it’s a male tree onto which a female branch has been grafted, which ripens fruit every year. To be precise – and we botanists always are about these matters – they aren’t fruit at all. A female ginkgo produces apricot-shaped elements, which are actually seeds covered with a fleshy, beautiful but very smelly case.