The Italian Botany Society, founded in Florence in 1888, draws its origin from the Florentine Botanical Society, the first botanical association in Europe, founded in the autumn of 1716 by the will of Pier Antonio Micheli. In 1844 the first issue of the Italian Botanical Journal was published; in 1874 the first International Botanical Congress took place in Florence (whose Acts were published by R. Società Toscana di Horticulture in 1876) and it was precisely on this occasion that a first project for the constitution of an Italian Botanical Society was made.
Meanwhile, in 1861, the unification of Italy had occurred. Finally, in Florence, on January 8, 1888, and thanks to the impulse given initially by Filippo Parlatore, the Italian Botanical Society (SBI) was established, which was then regularized in the forms of law on March 13, 1986 in Florence. The SBI is characterized by the high number of members (1165 in 2017), not only from academic and institutional backgrounds but also from other organizations such as schools and associations dedicated to activities in the botanical field.
