The Minerva Garden was the first botanical garden in Europe for cultivating plants for therapeutical use. Situated in the heart of the old town, close to the Fusandola stream and the ancient medieval walls, the garden appears as a terraced - walled orchard. The elements which date back to the 700s are very enchanting: a fountain on a terrace and the long terraced stairway bordered by stuccoed pillars leading to a belvedere, the whole covered by a pergola. The canny way of distributing water by means of troughs and fountains on every terrace, the type of climate favoured by the exposure to the sun and lack of northerly winds has helped maintain the garden over the centuries. The garden owned by Mathew Silvatico eminent doctor and author of the Libercibalis et medicinalis Pandectarum - a rare collection of information on plants used for producing medicine, was a place of learning for the students of the School of Medicine.

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