The University of Pavia Botanical Garden has occupied its present site since the late eighteenth century. It evolved from an earlier hortus simplicium (physic garden), where medicinal plants were cultivated for the teaching of medicine and pharmaceutical science.
In 1763, the first Chair of Botany was entrusted to the Vallombrosan monk Fulgenzio Vitman, who taught at the University of Pavia until 1773. Inspired by the Botanical Garden of Padua, Vitman proposed establishing the Garden next to Griffi College, but the project was never realised. Instead, Count Karl Joseph von Firmian, the Habsburg plenipotentiary for Lombardy, selected the area around the Church of St Epiphanius and the monastery of the Lateran Canons as the Garden’s permanent site.
Construction of the Botanical Garden and its adjoining Chemistry Laboratory began in 1773 and was completed in 1775. During this period Valentino Brusati was appointed Professor of Botany, Materia Medica and Chemistry. In 1776 he commissioned the construction of the large timber greenhouses designed by Giuseppe Piermarini, which were later modified by Leopoldo Pollack.
From 1777 to 1778, the Chair of Botany was held by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli. Under his direction the Garden was levelled and reorganised, two arboreta were established (one to the east of the main building and another to the north of the greenhouses), and the remaining areas were laid out in geometric beds separated by avenues. One of Scopoli’s major works, Deliciae Florae et Faunae Insubricae, includes an idealised illustration of the Garden showing a layout remarkably similar to that of today, particularly in terms of its buildings and overall boundaries.
Following Scopoli’s death, Domenico Nocca, who directed the Garden until 1826, oversaw the reconstruction of the greenhouses that became known as the Scopoli Greenhouses. Sheltered planting beds, known as pulvilli, were also created in front of the greenhouses. In the early nineteenth century the Church of St Epiphanius, closed in 1790, was demolished and partly incorporated into the University buildings, completing the northern wing of the complex.
In 1826 Giuseppe Moretti, a pharmacist and former student of the University of Pavia, became Director of the Botanical Garden. He was succeeded in 1853 by Santo Garovaglio, who, in a report written in 1862, described the disorder inherited from his predecessor, who had worked during particularly difficult times.
Garovaglio corrected inaccurate plant identifications and introduced labels for every specimen, not only for teaching purposes but also to improve the visitor experience. Under his leadership the Botanical Garden opened regularly to the public for the first time. In 1869 he founded the Cryptogamic Laboratory, dedicated to the study of plant diseases, laying the foundations for an important school of plant pathology.
In 1882 Giovanni Briosi became Director. He expanded the Cryptogamic Laboratory and the Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Anatomy, while reorganising the living collections according to their geographical origin and climatic requirements rather than traditional botanical classification. New greenhouses were added to house exotic species and plants requiring environmental conditions different from those of the Pavia region.
After Briosi’s death in 1919, the Garden was directed briefly by Luigi Montemartini (1920–1926), who was succeeded by Gino Pollacci, himself a pupil of Briosi. Pollacci continued introducing plants from every continent, including species from the former Italian colonies in Africa. He also promoted the acclimatisation of tropical plants, first within the Garden and later across the surrounding area through collaboration with farmers and woodland owners. Between 1935 and 1936 he commissioned the monumental southern façade, now facing Via Scopoli, distinguished by its raised pediment and elegant balcony.
In 1942 Raffaele Ciferri became Director. Taking advantage of the extensive post-war reconstruction, he gave the Botanical Garden much of its present appearance. He removed the greenhouse built by Briosi and created the monumental semicircular staircase surrounding the large central fountain. He redesigned the flower beds with continuous box hedges, installed statues and ornamental fountains, and planted an extensive rose collection in the northern and southern sections of the Garden.
Ciferri was succeeded in 1964 by Ruggero Tomaselli, whose interests focused on cultivating species from all five continents. He commissioned a new greenhouse designed to recreate a tropical rainforest environment, expanded the collection of cycads in the eastern section of the Scopoli Greenhouses in collaboration with the Botanical Garden of Naples, and restored Briosi’s cold greenhouse to house collections of useful and Mediterranean plants.
Following Tomaselli’s death in 1982, the position of Director ceased to be a lifetime appointment and became an elected office. Since then the Directors have been Augusto Pirola (1982–1996), Alberto Balduzzi (1996–2002), Francesco Sartori (2003–2008), Francesco Bracco (2008–2023), and Silvia Assini (2023- present).
During Pirola’s directorship, the rose garden was redesigned to include not only ornamental cultivated hybrids but also the wild species from which they originated. During the same period, a group of local residents founded the “Amici dell’Orto botanico” Association, which continues to play an important role in supporting public engagement activities, organising openings to visitors and carrying out maintenance work in collaboration with the Garden’s management.
Under Alberto Balduzzi, the foundations were laid for the medicinal plant collection. During Francesco Sartori’s directorship, the Botanical Garden became home to the Educational and Visitor Centre of the Siro Negri State Strict Nature Reserve, a project funded by the Italian Ministry for the Environment and dedicated to presenting the natural and scientific significance of this unique protected area owned by the University of Pavia.