The Turin Green Festival to rediscover nature in urban spaces

A city can be told in different ways. Turin has decided to do it for the first time starting from its natural heritage and who takes care of it. With a surface area of ​​37% covered by plants, of which over 15% visible at eye level, it is one of the greenest urban areas in Italy. From the roof garden on the slope of theformer Lingotto plant up to the vegetable gardens that grow next to a bunker in the popular neighborhood of Milan barrier for one week, from 22 to 28 May, in the Piedmontese capital a billboard with more than 50 initiatives, mostly free, will allow you to immerse yourself firsthand in the hidden or little-known oases of the city. But in the first Green Festival in Turin and its province there won’t be only public areas: the owners of some villas and palaces in the historic centre, in collaboration with the Web Garden association, will open their private gardens to the public for the first time.

The event has a widespread character and also extends to the first belt including, in this gallery of secret greenery, some historic parks such as that of Moncalieri castle which reopens for a couple of hours after centuries, the urban vineyard of Villa della Regina and the more than twenty hectares of what was there residence of Cavour in the municipality of Santena.

During the Festival, developed with the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo, it will also be possible to meet the protagonists of public green care: the gardeners of the city, which boasts a historic tradition in this sector, will lead a series of walks to discover the urban biodiversity also revealing some background of what goes on behind the scenes of mowing and new plantings.

The project of the event, born from an idea of ​​the president of Orticola Piemonte Justin Ballato And Fabio Marzano, wants to encourage the rediscovery of the green chlorophyll hidden in cities, or rather the plants with which we share spaces and the public function of greenery. Policies and contents of the event were developed within a scientific committee in which the University of Turin and the Polytechnic also participated.

The Festival del Verde, in numerical terms, is the most important Italian satellite event of the Chelsea Fringe Festival Londonan independent botanical event which on the same dates joins the famous Flower Show to encourage bottom-up gardening by offering everyone the opportunity to express themselves through themes related to plants.

In the weekend programming is also added FLORthe plant exhibition with over 150 exhibitors from all over Italy in the setting of Royal Gardens of Turin which this year is also hosting a demonstration garden on the species cultivated by the ancient Romans such as acanthus, a spontaneous ornamental herbaceous plant, and some varieties of rose which recall those of the time of the Caesars.

Info, program and reservations: Festival del Verde