LA DOTTA
Campanula and Ninfea
Over 500 years ago Ulisse Aldrovandi, a leading figure in modern science who is still considered a
reference for contemporary Italian naturalists, was born in Bologna.
For the University of Bologna, he is the first scientist whose manuscripts, notes and letters are preserved:
a treasure trove of information gathered by a man with a far-reaching curiosity.
Today, we owe our visual imagery of nature to Ulisse Aldrovandi and that first generation of naturalists.
An imagery built on the tradition of nature illustrations, which perhaps nowhere as in Bologna saw such
an extraordinary growth, and which would one day turn into the photographs and documentaries we all
know.
Many of these flowers and plants studied and cataloged by Ulisse Aldrovandi can be seen today at the
Botanical Garden of Bologna, which he himself founded in 1568 to provide students with a practical tool
for cultivating and analyzing the plants treated during the lessons.
Nature never ceases to amaze us and every time we look at it we find a source of inspiration: our new
fountain pens of LA DOTTA collection are dedicated to some of these flowers, Campanula Bononiensis
and Ninfea (Water Lily).
A mother-of-pearl and iridescent lilac of the Campanula reminds us of the bell-shaped flowers, one species
of which has been given a name linked to our city.
A grey/blue with lilac streaks of the Ninfea, on the other hand, reminds us of those aquatic plants with
their roots anchored in the earth at the bottom of ponds that suddenly reveal their floating flowers.