Università di Pisa Herbarium

The Herbarium of the University of Pisa is part of the Botanical Museum, hosted within the Botanical Garden of Pisa. The Botanical Garden was founded in 1543 by Luca Ghini (1490-1556), naturalist, physician and botanist born in Imola: it is the first university botanical garden in the world. Originally built on the banks of the river Arno, it was moved to its current location in 1591 and then progressively extended to the current extension of 3 hectares.

The Botanical Museum is the heir of the ancient Gallery, established in 1591 by the Grand Duke of Tuscany Ferdinando I de 'Medici to collect the "works of nature". Today the Museum preserve some material of this first period and particularly the so-called Quadreria, composed of seventeenth-century portraits of illustrious botanists, the monumental Gate of the entrance to the Gallery and the "Studiolo" (an ancient desk). The Museum also preserves objects related to the teaching of university botany from the late eighteenth century. Some are true works of art, such as botanical models in wax and plaster and water-based didactic tables (19th century). Other collections are the in vitro plant samples, the xiloteca, the didactic models, the botany tools and the paleobotanical collections

The Museum hosts, in a separate building the Herbarium (Herbarium Horti Botanici Pisani) where are preserved about 350,000 specimens collected from mid-eighteenth century to date. The Herbarium of Pisa is divided in two main sections: general Herbarium and separated collection.

The general Herbarium hosts the most ancient nucleus of the Herbarium Horti Botanici Pisani started from the collection, exchange and purchases by Gaetano Savi (1769–1844), prefectus of the Botanical Garden from 1814 to 1843. Among the most important collections, beside those of Gaetano Savi, include those of Giuseppe Raddi, Pietro Savi, Carlo Costa Reghini, and Egidio Barsali.

The Herbarium of the University of Pisa also hosts nine mainly private collections, donated to or purchased by the University and detached from the general collection. Noteworthy among these collections are the herbarium of Pietro Pellegrini (1867–1957), composed of 22,000 specimens, mainly from the Apuan Alps; the herbarium of Teodoro Caruel (1830–1898), consisting of about 14,500 samples representing a valuable document related to his “Prodromo della Flora Toscana”; and the herbarium of Michele Guadagno (1878–1930) purchased in 1939 and estimated to include about 37,000 specimens mainly from southern Italy.

Materials contributed by Università di Pisa Herbarium (PI):

• Specimens