People, places, stories

The University’s 800th anniversary tells a story of the tradition and modernity of people, events, and places through the close interweaving of relationships developed over eight centuries. Padua and its University continue to endure as a place for meetings, exchanges, arrivals and departures, and as a central point in the dissemination of culture and knowledge with the world.

All People Stories Places Curiosities

Vitello (Witelo)

(? 1230 -? 1314) Friar, theologian and scientist: a physicist, natural philosopher, mathematician Originally from Silesia, probably of modest family, he began his studies in Paris before reaching Padua in …

Andrea Vesalio

(Bruxelles, 31.12.1514 – Zante, 1564) He is considered the founder of modern anatomy.

Olof Rudbeck

(Västeras 1630 – Uppsala 1702) Swedish Doctor and Botanist Rudbeck was the son of Bishop Johannes, the chaplain of King Gustav II Adolph the Great. Rudbeck received his early education …

Enrico Zeno Bernardi

(Verona, 20.05.1841 – Turin, 21.02.1919) He graduated in mathematics from the University of Padua in 1863 and in 1879 he became professor of machines of the University where he remained …

Student associations

Following the multi-national chancellor posts attested in 1228 and 1241, the structure of the students’ associations was clearly set out in the charters of jurist students, whereby, from 1260 onwards, …

Alessandro Maurocordato

(Phanar, Costantinopoli 1636/1641 – 1709/1710) Doctor, Chief Dragoman of the Empire Council Son of a silk merchant, Nicola and Roxana Beglitzi, Maurocordato was born into a Byzantine family who had …

The 1968 Student Protest Movement at the University of Padova

The University of Padova is the protagonist of the 1968 Student Protest Movement and the years of protest right from the start: the student body, enormously increased (from about 10,000 …

The ancient Palazzo Bo

After the Hospitium Bovis was initially used as a teaching venue, it became the official seat of the University of Padova in 1539.

Werner Rolfinck

(Hamburg, Germany 1599-Jena, Germany 1673) German medical doctor, scientist, and botanist He matriculated under his native Germanic nation at the University of Padua on September 26, 1622. Three years later …

New migration of students from Bologna in the 14th century

After the mass exodus that occurred in the 13th century, especially in 1306 and 1321, students continued to move from the University of Bologna to the University of Padova, presenting …

8th February 1848

During the first few months of the year, in a climate of strong political tension that seemed to involve regimes and governments throughout Italy and Europe, a certain anti-Habsburgian feeling …

Giovanni Battista Morgagni

(Forlì, 25.2.1682 – Padua, 5.12.1771) The anatomist from Forlì, known for having laid the foundations of modern pathological anatomy, was just sixteen when he moved to Bologna where, on 16th …

Giacomo Casanova

(Venice, 2.4.1725 – Duchcov, 4.6.1798) The Venetian Giacomo Casanova arrived in Padua in 1734 at the age of 9, where he studied and immediately showed his brilliant mind. In Padua, …

The two Antonio Vallisneri, senior and junior

Antonio Vallisneri Senior (Tressilico, 3.5.1661 – Padua, 18.1.1730) studied medicine under the guidance of Marcello Malpighi in Bologna. He then graduated from the Medical College of Reggio Emilia

Gonzalo Perez Gudiel

(Toledo, 1238 – Rome, 1299) A canonist from the college of Toledo, he completed some of his studies in the cathedral school.

Joahann Georg Wirsung

(Augsburg, 3.7.1589 – Padua, 22.8.1643) This doctor, surgeon, anatomist and the man who discovered the major pancreatic duct is one of the foreign students depicted in Palazzo Bo’s Sala dei …

Nicolò Tomeo Leonico

(Venice, Italy 1456 – Padua, Italy 1531) Philosopher A family originally from Epirus, it is understood that he studied Greek with Demetrio Calcondila in Padua. In 1485, he obtained a …

Giuseppe Tartini

(Piran, 8.4.1692 – Padua, 26.2.1770) Acclaimed as “the greatest composer of his time“, Tartini is often associated with the story told by astronomer Joseph Jérôme de Lalande, according to whom, …

Palazzo Bo in the 20th century

Work started on the new area of Palazzo Bo in 1932 with the demolition of the remaining surrounding buildings.

Il Fiore di Botta

In 2008, following a proposal by then rector Vincenzo Milanesi, the University Administration Council gives the green light for development of the new Biology and Biomedicine educational complex. After six …

Edmund Davie

(unknown – London, before 1688) Edmund was the son of an English merchant who emigrated to Boston in 1662. He had already been awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree from …

Marko Gerbec

(Zagreb, Croatia 1811- Zagreb, Croatia 1872) Greek Croatia Poet Born into a wealthy merchant family of Greek origin, at the age of sixteen Dimitrija wrote his first drama “”Βιργινία” (Virginia), …

Jan Kochanowski

(Sycyna, Poland 1530 – Lublin, Poland 1584) Polish Renaissance poetBorn into the country nobility, Kochanowski father was judge of the district of Sandomierz, and his mother Anna Odrowąż. Kochanoski studied …

Francis Walsingham

(Londra?/Foots Cray? 1532-1590 Londra) English Secretary of State Francis Walsingham was born in or about 1532, probably at Foots Cray, near Chislehurst, Kent. His parents were William and Joyce Walsingham. …

Saint Catherine of Alexandria – Patron saint of students

St. Catherine of Alexandria is depicted on the left-hand side of the University of Padova seal; to the right, there is Christ the Redeemer who is giving a blessing with …

La Specola, from prison to observatory

When Galileo Galilei, who stayed in Padua between 1592 and 1610, observed the sky through a telescope, he certainly did not do it from the Specola tower, which was transformed …

Torquato Tasso

(Sorrento, 11.03.1544 – Rome. 25.04.1595) When he was still a child, he moved from Sorrento to Rome in order to be reunited with his father, the poet. He then went …

Thomas Linacre

Oliver Goldsmith

(Pallas, Longford 1728-1774 London) Irish playwright, poet, and apothecary’s assistant Son of Charles and Anna Jones, Goldsmith’s father was an ecclesiastical rector of Anglo-Irish origin. In 1745, Goldsmith entered Trinity …

The history behind Piave Futura

Vacant since 2015, the Ministry of Defense officially transferred the Piave Caserma deed to the University in 2017. Located in the heart of the city between Riviera Paleocapa and via …

Emile (Miles) Perrot

(Paris ? – 1556) Born into a middle class French bourgeois family, Emile Perrot was the son of Miles I and Denise Gobelin. He first began his humanities study in …

Racial laws hit the University of Padova

“I fulfil the duty to warn you that according to art. 3 of the Royal Decree – Law 5 September 1938 – XVI, n. 1390, bearing ‘Provisions for the defence …