University of Padua
University of Padua
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University of Padua

The University of Padua (Italian: Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is an Italian public research university in Padua, Italy. It was founded in 1222 (the second oldest university in Italy and the fifth oldest in the world, while also being one of the most prominent universities in early modern Europe) by a group of students and teachers from the University of Bologna, who previously settled in Vicenza; thus, it is the second-oldest university in Italy, as well as the world's fifth-oldest surviving university.

When Italians think of Padua, they immediately associate it with its long-standing tradition in medicine and anatomy, linked to great figures such as Andreas Vesalius, the “father of modern anatomy,” and Galileo Galilei, who once taught there. The university also proudly houses the world’s oldest anatomical theatre (1594), a symbol of Padua’s pioneering role in the development of modern medicine.

The University of Padua was one of the most prominent universities in early modern Europe, known particularly for the rigor of its Aristotelian logic and science. Together with the University of Bologna, Padua had a central role in the Italian Renaissance, housing and educating a number of Italian Renaissance mathematicians, amongst them Nicolaus Copernicus.

As of 2021, it is made up of 32 departments and eight schools. Padua is part a network of historical research universities known as the Coimbra Group. In 2021, the university had approximately 72,000 students including undergraduates, postgraduates, and doctoral students.

The university is conventionally said to have been founded in 1222 when a large group of students and professors left the University of Bologna in search of more academic freedom ('Libertas scholastica'), although it is certain that schools of law and medicine with students from various nations existed near Padua for a few years before 1222, more precisely in Vicenza. In reality, the first place where this group of students and professors from Bologna settled was at the University of Vicenza, where they were welcomed. Due to various vicissitudes, the headquarters was permanently moved to Padua. The first subjects to be taught were law and theology. The curriculum expanded rapidly, and by 1399 the institution had divided in two: a Universitas Iuristarum for civil law and Canon law, and a Universitas Artistarum which taught astronomy, dialectic, philosophy, grammar, medicine, and rhetoric. There was also a Universitas Theologorum, established in 1373 by Urban V.

The student body was divided into groups known as "nations" which reflected their places of origin. The nations themselves fell into two groups:

From the fifteenth to the eighteenth century, the university was renowned for its research, particularly in the areas of medicine, astronomy, philosophy and law. At the time it was the most renowned school of medicine internationally. During this time, the university adopted the Latin motto: Universa universis patavina libertas (Paduan Freedom is Universal for Everyone). Nevertheless, the university had a turbulent history, and there was no teaching in 1237–1261, 1509–1517, 1848–1850.

The Botanical Garden of Padova, established by the university in 1545, is one of the oldest gardens of its kind in the world. Its alleged title of oldest academic garden is in controversy because the Medici created one in Pisa in 1544. In addition to the garden, best visited in the spring and summer, the university also manages nine museums, including a History of physics museum.

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