The Orto Botanico di Brera (5,000 m²) is a

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...

located behind

Palazzo Brera Palazzo Brera or Palazzo di Brera is a monumental palace in Milan, in Lombardy in northern Italy. It was a Jesuit college for two hundred years. It now houses several cultural institutions including the Accademia di Brera, the art academy of t ...

at Via Brera 28 in the center of

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, and operated by the Istituto di Fisica Generale Applicata of the

University of Milan The University of Milan (; ), officially abbreviated as UNIMI, or colloquially referred to as La Statale ("the State niversity), is a public university, public research university in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Eu ...

. It is open weekdays without charge. The garden was established in 1774 by Abbot

Fulgenzio Vitman Fulgenzio Vitman (1728–1806) was an Italian clergyman and botanist. From 1763 to 1774 he taught botany at the University of Pavia, where in 1773 he founded the Orto Botanico dell'Università di Pavia, University Botanical Garden. In 1774, he dev ...

under the direction of the Empress

Maria Theresa of Austria Maria Theresa (Maria Theresia Walburga Amalia Christina; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was the ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position in her own right. She was the sovereig ...

, transforming an existing

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

garden to serve students of medicine and pharmacology. The garden was restored in 1998 after a long period of neglect and decay. Today the garden consists primarily of rectangular flower-beds, trimmed in brick, with elliptical ponds from the 18th century, and specula and

greenhouse A greenhouse is a structure that is designed to regulate the temperature and humidity of the environment inside. There are different types of greenhouses, but they all have large areas covered with transparent materials that let sunlight pass an ...

from the 19th century (now used by the Academy of Fine Arts). It contains one of the oldest ''

Ginkgo biloba ''Ginkgo biloba'', commonly known as ginkgo or gingko ( ), also known as the maidenhair tree, is a species of gymnosperm tree native to East Asia. It is the last living species in the order Ginkgoales, which first appeared over 290 million year ...

'' trees in Europe, as well as mature specimens of ''

Firmiana platanifolia ''Firmiana simplex'', commonly known as the Chinese parasol tree, Chinese parasoltree, or wutong (), is an ornamental plant of tree size assigned to the family Malvaceae that was formerly in the family Sterculiaceae in the order Malvales, and i ...

'', ''

Juglans nigra ''Juglans nigra'', the eastern American black walnut, is a species of deciduous tree in the walnut family, Juglandaceae, native to central and eastern North America, growing mostly in riparian zones. Black walnut is susceptible to thousand can ...

'', ''

Pterocarya fraxinifolia ''Pterocarya fraxinifolia'' is a species of tree in the Juglandaceae family. It is commonly known as the Caucasian wingnut or Caucasian walnut. It is native to the Caucasian region Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Russia, Ukraine and Turk ...

'', and ''

Tilia ''Tilia'' is a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes, native throughout most of the temperateness, temperate Northern Hemisphere. The tree is known as linden for the European species, and basswood for North American species. In Great Bri ...

''.

References

Orto Botanico di Brera

* ''Time Out Milan: The Lakes and Lombardy'', Time Out Guides Ltd, 2005, page 71. . Botanical gardens in Italy Gardens in Milan University of Milan Tourist attractions in Milan {{Italy-garden-stub

See also

References