Here we can see the prior of the students showing the snow to the Cardinal Legate. The priors of the two Universities of Legisti and Artists displayed the first snow that fell every year to the city authorities and to every lecturer of the Studio, so as to receive money.
The collecta nivis was, together with the matriculation taxes, the main source of funding for the University of Bologna and more than a third of the proceeds of the collection was used to pay the artists who were chosen to decorate the walls of the Archiginnasio.