The Botanical Garden of Pisa was founded in 1543 on the initiative of Luca Ghini, a physician and botanist from Imola, with the financial support of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo I de' Medici. In the 19th century it underwent substantial changes: the 16th-century layout of the large flowerbeds was dismantled to make room for smaller, rectangular flowerbeds, interspersed with paths and walls, at the centre of which were six remaining fountains with the original basin (currently four). Today, in the almost three hectares of greenhouses, lemon houses, flowerbeds and ponds, almost a thousand specimens of trees and shrubs (some dating back to the 18th century), hundreds of species of medicinal and herbaceous plants, aquatic plants, rhododendrons, camellias and tropical plants are grown, making the Botanical Garden of Pisa a truly unique place in the world.