During the last “Venetian” century a series of educational reforms were implemented, with the creation of new professorships in the legal field (public law) and scientific field (agrarian science), or in medicine (some medical surgical clinics, gynaecology, paediatrics, occupational medicine). Thanks to the conversion of the ancient tower of the Carraresi Castle, the University was extended into an astronomical observatory, the “Specola”, thus leading to the construction of a first University Garden for experiments in agriculture and the opening of many workshops. These changes respond to a period of crisis for the University that had already started in the previous century, when the University itself was criticized for its many useless lessons and the ease with which each degree was awarded. Despite the loss of prestige, there are in fact many prominent figures who attended the University of Padua: from Giuseppe Tartini and Ugo Foscolo to Giacomo Casanova, Carlo Goldoni and Carlo Rezzonico (later Pope Clement XIII), as well as professors Giovanni Battista Morgagni, father of pathological anatomy, Giovanni Poleni, Simone Stratico and Iacopo Facciolati.

1708

Giuseppe Tartini

Giuseppe Tartini started an ecclesiastical career but later enrolled in the law school which he attended until 1710. He became one of the greatest musicians of the century

1711

Giovanni Battista Morgagni

Giovanni Battista Morgagni is firstly called to Padua as professor of theoretical medicine, then as professor of anatomy. He taught in Padua for almost 50 years

1731

Carlo Goldoni

In just six months, Carlo Goldoni graduated and began a career in law, which will remain parallel to that of the theatrical author

1734

ANTONIO VALLISNERI’S COLLECTION

Antonio Vallisneri junior donated to the University the naturalistic, archaeological and artistic collections of his father, which form the first nucleus of the Vallisneri Museum

1737

Giacomo Casanova

The Venetian Giacomo Casanova enrols among the “legist” scholars

1738

GOVERNMENT TO THE PROFESSORS

The university government, up to now run by the students, was handed to the professors. Councillors of nations are abolished

1739

GIOVANNI POLENI

The Venetian Senate passed a decree on February 12, 1739, to appoint Giovanni Poleni Professor of Experimental Philosophy. He created the most prestigious “Physics Cabinet” in Europe

1761

REFORM OF THE UNIVERSITY

A “reform” was undertaken in order to reinstate the University “original splendour and usefulness”. In a few years several new chairs were set up

1766

THE AGRICULTURAL GARDEN

A first Agricultural Garden was built within the sixteenth-century city walls, in the Santa Croce district

1767

La Specola

Laying of the first stone of the Specola: the University was able to inaugurate this new observatory 10 years later

1786

Wolfgang Goethe at the Botanical Garden

On a visit to the Padua Botanical Gardens, Wolfgang Goethe admired the sixteenth-century St. Peter’s palm: hence the evolutionary intuition published in the essay “The metamorphosis of plants”

1794

Vincenzo Malacarne

Vincenzo Malacarne, a professor in Padua, dies. To him we owe the first detailed description of the cerebellum, with the introduction of new anatomical terms

1795

Ugo Foscolo

In Padua, Ugo Foscolo was a pupil of Melchiorre Cesarotti, to whom he asked for an opinion on “Tieste”, his first tragedy

1797

FALL OF THE REPUBLIC OF VENICE

Following the fall of the Republic under the French, the University attempted to “arrange” its educational programmes. The following year the University passed under Austrian control