Orto Botanico a Pisa

School Field trip to Pisa Botanical Garden. One of the best things about Lucca Italian School are the extracurricular activities — totally in Italian! Today, Susanna led her 14 student ducklings to Pisa to visit the Orto Botanico a Pisa, just a 30 minute train ride from Lucca. The Pisa Botanical Garden was founded in 1543 and is the first in the world. Originally for the study and cultivation of medicinal plants it has expanded for the scientific research of plants and conservation at the Pisa University. The original herbal garden plots in extra photos. In the 16th century the Duke, a Medici, established a gallery to host works of nature at the Botanic Garden. That collection is now in the 18th c Palazzo delle Conchiglie (palace of shells) aka the Pisa Botanic Museum. The front of the building is of the style prominent of the time — shells, corals, stone decorations. The museum has a collection of wax plant models and scientific instruments from mid 19th c. Also a room of biological specimens.