Medicine University - Entrance Botanical Garden Pietro Castelli

Telephone: +39 090713820

The botanical garden of the University in Messina has center in the XX September square  to realize it was the Roman Pietro Castelli. The history of this Botanical Garden begins in 1638 when the messinese Athenaeum decreed the foundation of the Hortus Messanensis. 

Peter Castelli had assumed a system of classification of the plants indeed originate them for that time, he placed to them in fourteen classes that, in the "Its Garden" were re-united in four "hortuli", systematic-filogenetica disposition that a lot is suited today to a modern Botanical Garden.

Monument to Pietro Castelli

Marcello Malpighi , founder of the istologia and the anatomy vegetable, succeeded to Peter Castelli. Malpighi lead to Messina a study taken care of on the coming from material from the Hortus Messanensis, its numerous observations came then published in its works Anatomes Plantarum Idea and then in the Anatome Plantarum.

The history us filler to 1678 when Spanish, reconquering the city, wanted suppress whichever dim light of culture and therefore the University came press and, with it, the magnificent Botanical Garden that completely was destroyed after single forty years from its foundation.

Of that naturalistic and architectonic jewel, for guilt of the blind usual human ignorance, us remains only a design that is of greatest interest.

In 1838 with decree of the borbonico government the new University was instituted but, burrascosi political events, natural catastrophes and a general disinterestedness did not concur, in that period, the realization of the new Botanical Garden that finally saw the light after average century of requests advanced from the messinese Athenaeum. Exactly the 29 you open them the 1889 Communal Council of Messina receiving the proposal of prof. the Antonino Borzì, deliberated to the unanimità to yield four hectares the sides of the Portalegni Torrent for the construction of a Botanical Garden. Disastrous, finally, for the Garden the earthquake of 1908; the spaces that accommodated the collections of plants came used in order to construct shacks and, later on, with new slowly the regolator the spaces came less where currently is XX September square .