Founded in 1568 by Ulisse Aldrovandi — the same Aldrovandi who built up the cabinet of natural history that became the city's zoological museum — Bologna's Orto Botanico is among the oldest university botanical gardens in the world. The original site was elsewhere; the present garden on Via Irnerio dates from the eighteenth century and covers about two hectares.
The collections are organised by ecology: a Mediterranean garden, a hill habitat, a wet zone with marsh plants, a small forest of native trees. The greenhouses hold tropical and arid-climate plants. Entrance is free, and the garden is a calm green pocket in the university quarter, rarely busy.