Yesterday was just a recoup day – with a nice lunch thrown in for good behavior. Today we packed everything up and headed to Padua – about 40 minutes away from Venice but without all the water worlds apart. The main goal, of stopping in Padua, was to visit the Gardens.
“The botanical garden of Padua is at the origin of all botanical gardens in the world and represents the cradle of science, scientific exchanges and understanding of the relationship between nature and culture. It has largely contributed to the advancement of many modern scientific disciplines , in particular botany, medicine, chemistry, ecology and pharmacy.” UNESCO
Because of Janeen’s [who is writing todays blog] Huntington Herb Garden workshops and Herbals introductions, this garden has been on her radar for at least two years.
The Moorish” medicinal” which inspired the Italian drawings of Padua students under Francesco Bonafede, were taken from the actual plants grown in the university gardens starting in the 16th century.
The garden had to be enclosed with walls to keep thieves out as the plants were so highly valued. There is still a Medicinals Quadrant to this day, but the garden expanded in the 18th and 19th centuries with the “collectors” of new world plants and flora. Many of these plants were “exchange” botanicals between students of the plant world. Janeen loved recognizing Huntington plants, and was in awe of the 1750 Ginkgo Biloba, a male specimen grafted with a female branch in 1850. The order and design of the garden is much like it was almost 200 years ago, with separate gardens outside the walls, planted around waterfalls, fountains and pools fed from underground springs.
On a less academic note, I [Janeen} needed green relief, having had my fill of roundabout directions and diesel fumes (even in watery Venice). David has found new Mercedes to be a friendly steed, even amongst the narrow streets with Italian drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians.
Near the Botanical Gardens was our bonus of the day, Prato Della Valle, an elliptical square, the largest in all of Italy and one of the largest in Europe. A water feature divides its quadrants into green space, and statuary surround I’lsola Memmia. The bridge offers great photo ops.
On the way out of the garden we watched workers placing stones to make a new roadbed – lots of labor involved.
