Botanical Art Worldwide 2025
Italy

Frutti della nostra terra - biodiversità ad acquerello
Fruits of our land - biodiversity in watecolour

About

Italy proudly partners up once again with more than 30 countries across the globe for the second edition of this international event which is centered around crop diversity in the world. 

Extensive farming has led to the loss of many unique species and varieties that were historically present in specific geographical areas across the Italian territory. With them, not only are many important nutritional elements lost but also the culture and food traditions of their places of origin. 

Through the artworks in this exhibition, we would like to highlight in a pictorial though certainly not exhaustive manner, the biodiversity of historic and heirloom varieties in Italy, together with the commitment and dedication of those who still conserve and safeguard them with the certainty that the seeds of our future lie in our past.

Organizers

CABI - Committee for Botanical Art in Italy was formally set up in 2022 with the scope of organizing the Italian Edition of this international event as a travelling exhibition throughout Italy.

in collaboration/partnership with

MUSE - Museo delle Scienze, Museum of Science and Nature, Trento

Steering Committee

• Maria Lombardi

• Angela Petrini

Opening Venue

MUSE, Museum of Nature and Science - Palazzo delle Albere
May 9th - June 22nd 2025

MUSE is located in the city of Trento - AltoAdige/Südtirol region of northern Italy. The shape, materials and identity of the museum were designed by the world-renowned architect Renzo Piano. The vision of this museum is to investigate nature, share science and inspire society for sustainable development. It was built on the grounds of the ancient and historical Renaissance villa-fortress Palazzo delle Albere - a place where art and science meet, which is now the venue for exhibitions, workshops, events.

Traveling Venue

Museo della Grafica di Pisa, Tuscany
July 11th - September 28th 2025

The Museo della Grafica was founded by the City of Pisa and the University of Pisa, with the desire to present the city with an original and highly suggestive structure that integrates the city’s museum system. Housed in the historical Palazzo Lanfranchi, it holds one of the most important public collections of contemporary graphics.

Travelling Venue

Museo Lechi di Montichiari, Province of Brescia, Lombardy
October 25th 2025 - January 24th 2026

The Lechi Museum is one of six structures that make up the Montichiari Musei, a museum system established in 2009 in the Lombardy Region to enhance the tangible and intangible heritage of its civic museums. Founded in 2012, it hosts the collections of the counts Luigi and Piero Lechi. The museum provides an important chapter in the history of the Lombard aristocracy collections with masterpieces of paintings from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century. The permanent itinerary is set up on the first floor of Palazzo Tabarino whilst the ground floor of the palazzo is dedicated to temporary exhibitions.

Artwork

Botanical Art Worldwide 2018

A Flourishing Heritage - Portraits of Italian Flora

About this Exhibition

May 18 - June 18, Padua Botanic Garden, Padua, Italy.

Italy too has joined Botanical Art Worldwide - Linking people to plants through botanical art; a project initiated by the American Society of Botanical Artists. The exhibition in Italy will be held at the oldest botanical garden in the world, the Padua Botanic Garden (Orto Botanico di Padova) established in 1545 and declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997. Recently, a new modern sector called The Biodiversity Garden was inaugurated adjacent to the ancient Garden of Simples which dates back to the 16th century. The exhibition has been organised by Floraviva, the Italian Association of Botanical Artists in collaboration with the Padua Botanic Garden.

Floraviva, established in 2004 to promote and sustain the development of the ancient tradition of botanical art, brings together the most qualified exponents of this art in Italy today. An invitation to submit artwork for this worldwide event was extended to independent botanical artists as well as Floraviva members.

Particular attention was given to the endemic contingent of the national flora. Out of all the native species depicted (approximately 70), only two are considered naturalised, while 18 are endemic to Italy, some are very rare and several are endangered. This is in line with the recommendations expressed at an international level: raising awareness of the flora and biodiversity that characterise each country, and the fundamental role they play in the landscape. Given that botanical art and representation of the natural world went through a great development during the Renaissance, the name given to the Italian exhibition wishes to recall this legacy: A Flourishing Heritage - Portraits of Italian Flora.

Artists selected are: Anna Maria Aulicino, Silvia Battaglini, Renata Bonzo, Lucilla Carcano, Pierino Delvo', Natalino De Marchi, Nadia Farotti, Marina Fusari, Claudio Giordano, Margherita Leoni, Maria Lombardi, Rosemary Labella Lucca, Anne Eldredge Maury, Adriana Morgante Giornetti, Alfredina Nocera, Simonetta Occhipinti, Claudine Pasquin, Angela Petrini, Carla Pucci da Filicaja, Silvana Rava, Roberta Sarchioni, Mary Ann Scott, Angelo Speziale, Maria Rita Stirpe, Lisa Tommasi, Daniela Trabucco, Marina Ubertini, Lidia Vanzetti, Rosanna Verga Simonelli, Silvana Volpato, and Elena Zito.

For more information email botanicalart@ortobotanicopd.it.

artwork

The Jury of Experts, composed of Prof. Barbara Baldan, Director of the Padua Botanic Garden, Prof. Fabio Garbari, former President of the Italian Botanical Society, and Prof. Lucia Tomasi Tongiorgi, Art Historian of the University of Pisa, met at the end of February to carefully examine all the artworks presented by the artists. A total of 67 artworks were admitted by 31 artists, 27 of whom are women. These are three of the images chosen for this exhibition.

Organizers

Floraviva (Italian Association of Botanical Painters) and Orto Botanico di Padova (Botanical Garden of Padua)

Steering Committee

Barbara Baldan
Fabio Garbari
Lucia Tomasi Tongiorgi

exhibition Venue

Orto Botanico di Padova  

Location

Orto Botanico di Padova, 15 Via Orto Botanico, Padova, Veneto, 35123

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