Orto Botanico dell’Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia

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Orto Botanico dell’Ateneo di Modena e Reggio Emilia is located in the historical centre of Modena. It was founded in 1758 at the behest of the Duke Francesco III d’Este, who decided to transform a part of the garden into his residence, in order to destine them to the cultivation of medical plants.
The garden has an extension of about 1 hectares, with 300 square meters of greenhouses for the recovery of plants. Among them, the most important once are the ducal greenhouses, built in the first half of the 19^th century, to place the exotic species. They are located in front of the symmetrical parterre, designed at the end of the 18^th century. Now they are used differently: a temperate area has been created for succulent plants and another hot-wet zone, to host some tropical species such as Victoria cruziana, a nymphaea with leaves whose extent is 1 meter.
Inside the Botanical garden, university research activities take place, such as didactic, educational and promotional activities for schools and enthusiasts.

The collections
In addition to the ducal greenhouses of the 19^th century, the vegetable garden includes also a greenhouse for succulent plants; a Serretta with hot-wet climate for the cultivation of carnivorous plants, orchids, ferns; a 18^th century parterre, formed by a series of flowerbeds developing radially around the central basin; Arboreto, which hosts about 700 arboreal and bushy specimens, some of them are centuries old, belonging to more than 200 species, both native and exotic ones.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)