Fidenza, the "green dream"

The vast gardening and forestry project of the Emilian municipality was presented at EIMA. In just a few years 175,000 square metres of new urban greenery were created, of which over 46,000 covered by woodland. New projects are in the pipeline for a city that aims at full sustainability also in the energy and mobility fields

The five days of EIMA International saw green spaces as protagonists, together with agriculture. Expressed in the most diverse forms, from hobby gardening to urban parks, from sports fields to the new trends in green furnishings represented by vertical greenery and hanging gardens, green spaces represent one of the most promising sectors also as regards mechanisation, which has developed a very wide range of means and equipment for all types of maintenance.

One experience, among many, has aroused interest, namely the public green project implemented in the Municipality of Fidenza, presented at EIMA during a conference entitled "Bosco in Piazza" [Forest in the Square]. This is an extraordinary urban redevelopment project that included the planting of 1,200 trees in just five years and the development of 175,000 square metres of new greenery, bringing every single inhabitant of Fidenza to an average of 25 square metres of green space.

The interventions are very diverse, and include a part consisting of themed woods (The Library of Trees, The Maia Forest, The Children's Forest, The Fornio Forest and The Forest of Memory), and other parts designed as gardens. This commitment that has been renewed with a programme that will bring another 100 thousand square metres of urban parkland in the next few years. The Municipality of Fidenza's commitment - it was explained during the conference - extends to a wide range of interventions in the name of sustainability, including optimisation of waste management, use of solar energy in public offices, complete removal of asbestos, reduction of energy bills, construction of two cogeneration plants and an extensive cycle network for urban mobility.

The plan is clearly to make the city of Fidenza a model of quality and sustainability, and also a formidable testing ground for all those mechanical and electronic technologies - the monitoring of the plants is already being carried out with a fleet of drones - that are needed to safely build and maintain this precious heritage.