History

At this time, the Paduan Studio had a configuration similar to that of Bologna: the guilds of scholars or universities in the strict sense, the colleges of doctors and the figure of the chancellor. The pupils are divided into Transalpine and Cisalpini, according to an ethnic-geographical criterion; inside, the "Nationes" are configured. Elected by the students, the Rector came in turn from the two groups, to give voice to the students who came from all over Europe. At the beginning of the fourteenth century Padova reached the phase of greatest splendor of its independent history, and professors from all over Europe chose it as a destination: in 1305 the philosopher, doctor and astrologer Pietro d'Abano, a leading figure of medieval medicine, was called to Padova from the Studio of Paris. His successors included Nicolò Santa Sofia, Giacomo and Giovanni Dondi dall'Orologio. The Signoria dei Carraresi gave further prestige to the Studio, calling famous professors to attract the greatest number of students, and Padova became a reference point for the dissemination of culture and research in the Western world such as Bologna, Oxford and Cambridge.

Towards the end of the fourteenth century, the impatience of the guild of students of philosophical and medical disciplines led to the definitive split from the older Universitas Iuristarum; Thus was born in 1399 the Universitas Artistorum. The election of an autonomous rector, the student Benedetto Greco da Salerno, is the expression of this total organizational independence.

The beginning of the fifteenth century marks the fall of the Carraresi and the advent of the dominion of Venice, which will last more than three centuries, until the end of the eighteenth century. Despite some periods of crisis, it is a period of great cultural prestige that sees a succession in Padova names that have remained engraved in the history of astronomy, medicine, physics and letters: professors such as Andrea Vesalio, Gabriele Falloppio and later Girolamo Fabrici d'Acquapendente leave an indelible mark: with their discoveries in the field of anatomy they will contribute to give significant breakthroughs in the medical field. Galileo Galilei taught in Padua for 18 years, supporting the heliocentric dissertation of Nicolaus Copernicus, and gave a fundamental turning point to the study of astronomy. Thanks to the construction of a telescope more powerful than the existing one, it provides the first detailed observations of the Milky Way, the surface of the Moon and the four main satellites of Jupiter; in 1610 he published the Sidereus Nuncius.

The students, who paid the teachers through the collections, traditionally had the approval of the statutes, the election of the rector, the choice of teachers and the drafting of the list of activated chairs (the rotulus), but already towards the end of the fourteenth century the Carraresi had begun to influence these choices by introducing a sort of policy of chairs. The Serenissima continued on the same path, financing the appointment of famous professors until the umpteenth disorder among the students: in 1560 the Senate decided to totally deprive them of the possibility of choosing professors, thus removing any constraint of dependence of teachers on students. The Venetian period is also distinguished by the renovations and extensions of the palaces, which begin as early as the end of the fifteenth century: the schools scattered in different districts of the city converge in a single block of buildings, where Palazzo Bo will be born, still today the central campus of the University.

In 1545 the Orto dei Semplici, the first European botanical garden, was founded. At the end of the century, probably in 1595, the first permanent anatomical theatre was built. "Hic est locus ubi mors gaudet succurrere vitae" says the enrolment that stands out above its entrance "this is the place where death enjoys in rescuing life", so important were anatomical dissections for the progress of medical studies.

In the seventeenth century and for most of the following century there was no shortage of valuable teachers (from Antonio Vallisneri to Gian Battista Morgagni) and brilliant students who began their studies in Padua (from Giuseppe Tartini to Carlo Goldoni, Ugo Foscolo, and many others). In the meantime, the expansions are continuing.

In 1629 the first Italian university library was built, with its campuses in the Sala dei Giganti; in 1678 the Sacred College of Philosophers and Physicians granted the first degree in the world to a woman, the Venetian patrician Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia.

In the second half of the eighteenth century there were a series of reforms in terms of teaching, with the creation of new chairs in the legal field (such as public law) and scientific (agricultural science), or in medicine (some medical-surgical clinics, gynecology, paediatrics, occupational medicine). Attention to the experimental scientific method increased: the Astronomical Observatory was erected on the tower of the Carraresi Castle, land was rented for agricultural experiments and many laboratories were activated.

With the fall of Venice at the hands of Napoleon's troops, a period of confusion and instability began, during which French rule alternated several times with Austrian rule, leading to a global change in the structure of the University: the distinction between Universitas Iuristarum and Universitas Artistorum disappeared, the Nationes disappeared; The Rector, elected by the viceroy, becomes the main link between the university and the central government.

From 1813 a period of relative stability began: under the Austrian government, government-appointed teachers were subjected to strict rules and the intellectual censorship to which they were subjected only worsened the level of course units. Student discontent also increased, culminating in the famous uprisings of 8 February 1848, which saw Paduan citizens and students united in the revolt. It was the political movements that shook and characterized those years: in fact, many Paduan students left their studies to fight alongside the Piedmontese troops in the first war of independence or embarked on the historic expedition of the Thousand.

The apparent immobility ended in 1866 with the annexation of Veneto to the Kingdom of Italy.

With Giusto Bellavitis, the first Rector of the Kingdom of Italy, a new chapter opens for the University. In 1874 the School of Pharmacy was founded and in 1876 an application school for engineers, independent of the Faculty of Science; in the meantime the University of Padua is equal to the others of the Kingdom and the mandate of the rector becomes multi-year. In the following years Padova returned to have an identity and an international projection, with radical expansions and a building redevelopment of the University that saw the birth of the first district dedicated to science and the building intended to house the university library.

With the First World War there was a setback: as many students and teachers left their studies for arms, while in the twenty years of fascism new buildings proliferated; the Institute of Pathological Anatomy, the Surgical Clinic, the institutes along the Piovego, the school canteen, the student house.

The Anti Rectorate (1932-1943) was responsible for further building development of the university, thanks to the funding that allowed the radical changes in the Palazzo del Bo and the construction of the Liviano, the Institute of Physics, the Asiago Astrophysical Observatory and the Chioggia Hydrobiological Station. In the same years, the University lost prominent exponents such as the economist Marco Fanno, the physicist Bruno Rossi and the histologist Tullio Terni, purged because they were Jewish; So did many hundreds of students. The new rector is Concetto Marchesi who, on the occasion of the inauguration of the academic year 1943/44, gives a speech unanimously interpreted as "a declaration of war by the University of Padua on the oppressors of Italy". As had already happened for the First World War, also in the Second World War many of the University's teachers and students died: the symbol of the struggle for freedom against all oppressors is the gold medal for military valor with which the University, the only one in Italy, was decorated on 12 November 1945.

The post-war university bears the name of Guido Ferro. He was rector for almost twenty years, in which a further expansion of the cultural offer was accompanied by a considerable building expansion and the decentralization of the Paduan Faculties in other cities of the Veneto. The subsequent rectors implement a capillary decentralization of the courses, promoting an articulation of teaching and research. The Faculties of Psychology, Economics and Statistical Sciences were created, and the Agripolis campus was created to house the new Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and offer Agraria more space for experimental activities and laboratories. In the Piovego area, the multi-departmental complex of Biology, Mathematics and Psychology, the student citadel (Studio Valle; inauguration in 2015) and the biomedicine complex, entrusted to the architect Mario Botta and completed in 2014, flourish. In 2014 the Biodiversity Garden was inaugurated, an extension of the Botanical Garden.

From 1 January 2012 the new Statute, following the directives of the Minister of Education, provides for a global administrative-didactic reorganization with the suppression of the Faculties, the entrustment of teaching to the departments and the possibility of establishing schools with the task of coordinating the activities of the departments in the courses of study.