After the usual seasonal closure, the University Botanical Garden will reopen to the public on Sunday, March 31, with continuous opening hours from 07:45 AM to 8:00 PM.

The Garden is located on Monte Valerio hill, within the university campus. Access is free and open to all. There are three pedestrian entrances: the upper gate with steps on Via Giorgieri (in front of the “Castelletto”), the large lower gate on Via Fleming (barrier-free), and a smaller gate with a step, also on Via Fleming, near the ramp leading to Building H3. Visitors arriving by car can enter through Gate 10.

The University Botanical Garden is an institution that maintains living, documented, and labeled plants, open to the public for scientific research, education, exhibition, recreation, and conservation. It hosts about 400 labeled species from Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Australia, including endemic species from the Karst region and Friuli Venezia Giulia, as well as a small section dedicated to pteridophytes. The Garden is also home to a monumental, centuries-old downy oak (Quercus pubescens), the only tree preserved during deforestation in wartime.

An integral part of the Botanical Garden, though outside its fenced area and open at all times, is the Monte Valerio Nature Trail, featuring several points of interest marked by informational signs on the hill’s flora and fauna. The trail entrance is located across from the Botanical Garden’s entrance on Via Giorgieri, near the Castelletto. The Garden also offers relaxation areas with tables and seating, ideal for a break between university classes.

The official pages dedicated to the Botanical Garden and the Nature Trail will soon be available on the website of the Department of Life Sciences.