Values and motto

Our core values are the glue that binds our academic community together and is a powerful talent attraction. Two main pillars on which our University is based are freedom in research and teaching, and inclusion.

The origin of the motto is relatively recent: it appears in 1939 in a speech by the Rector Carlo Anti, who describes it as "over the centuries the sign of our University". It is presumed that the author is Professor Concetto Marchesi, who before being in turn Rector, was the official epigraphist of Anti's rectorate: he is credited with combining the concept of universality with the already historically present one of Patavina libertas.

We are part of history, but also of the future. From the birth of modern medicine to the graduation of the first woman in the world, up to the gold medal for military valor for her contribution to the fight against Nazi-fascism, we have always promoted an environment where students, regardless of their religion or geographical origin, could study without having to give up their identity.

We are thus committed to promoting and protecting the character of a public, free, secular, pluralistic university independent of any conditioning and discrimination based on ideological, religious, political, economic or physical motivations. Our mission is to guarantee full freedom of research and course unit, enhancing all fields of knowledge and promoting interdisciplinarity in research and teaching.

The motto of the University of Padova is Universa Universis Patavina Libertas: all in full, for everyone, freedom in the University of Padova. It emphasizes the freedom of thought and opinion that has characterized the University since its origin, when some students migrated from the university campus of Bologna, whose Municipality increasingly carried out controls and pressures on student corporations.

Even during the rule of Venice, the Republic guaranteed religious freedom and protection from the repressive policy of the Counter-Reformation: Padova was in fact the only university to remain open to students and teachers suspected of heresy or considered unbelievers. Even Galileo, a year and a half before his death, wrote in a letter: "Not without envy do I feel your return to Padova, where I spent the best eighteen years of my entire age. May he enjoy this freedom and the many friendships he has contracted here, and in the soul city of Venice".

The students joined the citizens in the uprisings of February 8, 1848 and participated during the Risorgimento in the first war of independence and the expedition of the Thousand. The peak of the commitment to the freedom of the country was reached in 1943, when the Rector Concetto Marchesi called for the fight against Fascism, pronouncing in the inaugural speech of the academic year what was called "a declaration of war by the University of Padova on the oppressors of Italy"; the University of Padova is the only Italian university awarded the gold medal for military valor because, as stated in the motivation, "in the last huge conflict it was able, first of all, to turn into a center of conspiracy and war. Padova had in its Athenaeum a temple of civil faith and a garrison of heroic resistance."

Our commitment extends to scientific research, the generation and transmission of knowledge and cultural production, elements that we consider fundamental for the education of new generations and for economic and social growth. Furthermore, we recognize the importance of promoting solid relationships with society, aware of our role as promoters of cultural, social and economic development. In all our activities, we value impact and social responsibility.

We value our cultural heritage as a factor of promotion and growth for people and society, promoting a culture of equality, inclusion, sustainability and social responsibility. We combat all forms of discrimination, valuing the diversity of ideas and visions of the world, and we promote autonomy and responsibility in the management of resources.

We intend on every occasion to enhance merit and promote excellence through fair and shared evaluation tools. We are attentive to the concreteness of the programs and the sustainability of development, translating into action the values of our motto "Universa universis patavina libertas".

Being a gymnasium omnium disciplinarum puts us in a position to address all the relevant research topics and challenges that characterize modern society in every field of knowledge and professions. This multidisciplinary approach allows us to be flexible and innovative, responding effectively to the ever-changing needs of the academic and professional world.