Marsili’s places

The most significant place in the life of Giovanni Marsili is, probably, the prestigious Botanical Garden in which he worked for more than thirty years as Prefect.

Here, in fact, in addition to being able to practice his profession as a botanical teacher, he can devote himself to the most modern studies, such as the analysis of plants based on the Linnean classification, but also to more "experimental" activities such as the cultivation of plants from completely different geographical and environmental contexts; here he can cultivate his historical interests, through the reorganization and renovation of buildings that at his time are now more than two hundred years old; he can entertain scientific relations with great scholars and intellectuals contemporary to him, exchanging seeds and plants with them and thus bringing the species cultivated in the Garden to more than 12,000 (from about 4,000 when he arrived), he can perform activities that leave a mark, such as planting an arboretum from scratch, still today one of the jewels of the botanical garden.

Here he can finally find space for his rich library collection, which will count over 2500 volumes and which today is still the founding nucleus of the library located within the historic buildings of the Garden.

As a professor of the Studium patavinum, in Marsili’s life the University must have had a certain importance; it is one of the oldest in Europe and is now approaching 800 years of age. During Marsili’s life it sees important changes in terms of teaching, which becomes more organic, structured, modern and lets the new force of experimental science enter the world of traditional knowledge.

However, also fundamental in the life of Marsili are his travels, taking him first around Italy and then to some of the most lively and animated cities of eighteenth-century Europe. It is during these peregrinations, in fact, that Giovanni Marsili begins to take a serious interest in the subject of botany, which will occupy him throughout his life; the scholars and men of letters who he comes into contact with will have a great influence on his culture, his studies and his activities. Finally, during his travels, the passion for books that always accompanies him leads him to the continuous search for valuable, rare and beautiful works.