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This park is on via Degani, Piacenza, and truly one of its kind in Italy, both for the long tradition that binds it to the city and for the forward-looking Municipality which has reserved it to public vegetable garden since the Renaissance. Citizens are thus still able to plant and grow their own favorite plants.
The project, completed in 2003, was entrusted to the landscape architect Anna Scaravella, and the architects Olga Hainess, Claudio Sesenna, and Marcello Spigaroli.

After the consolidation of the old brick wall along via Degani, the reconstruction of a fencing wall in original terracotta took place, adding a second access to the garden, on the opposite side from that on via Borghetto. The green area, some 8.370-square yard wide, has then been split into two parts: one for vegetable gardens (2.392 square yards), and one for the public garden ( 5.980 square yards). The latter is crossed by a bending path that connects the two entrances and which allows access to the different areas of the park.

THE PARK and THE GARDEN

The public park, also equipped with a children’s playground, has a large green lawn with trees planted according to layouts inspired by the typical orchards of Renaissance urban gardens.
Along the northern border wall, indigenous spots of arboreal and shrubby vegetation have been freely arranged, resulting in a beautiful wooded backdrop. The garden section is separated from the public area by two orthogonal walkways built along some ancient irrigation ditches.

The avenues are shaded by pergolas covered by creepers which also separate the public part from the vegetable one, without creating any visual or architectural barriers. The gardens were designed as an ideal grid with the ancient Piacenza “trabucco” as a unit of measurement.
The floors and the arrangement of the trees (according to multiples and submultiples of the “trabucco” – 110.92 inches), recovered and underscored the true value of a tradition that was going be lost forever.
Fruit trees were placed among the roses, arranged on a grid, and along the eastern border wall; they were thus protected from frost and surrounded by aromatic herbs and other plants.

THE PLANTS

Trees:
Acer campestre, Carpinus betulus, Cercis siliquastrum “Album”, Clerodendrum trichotomum, Ficus carica “Brogiotto Nero” and “Dottato”, Fraxinus excelsior, Fraxinus ornus, Malus domestica “Annurca”, “Golden Delicious”, “Renetta del Canada”, Morus platanifolia “Kagayamae”, Prunus armeniaca “Bulida” and “Reale D’Imola”, Prunus avium “Bigarreau Moreau”, “Durone di Cesena”, “Durone Nero di Vignola”, “Plena”, Prunus x domestica “Morettini 355”, “Regina Claudia”, “Stanley”, Pyrus calleryana “Chanticleer”, Pyrus communis “Abate Fétel”, “Conference”, “Decana del Comizio”, Quercus robur, Sophora japonica, Tilia cordata, Ziziphus jujuba.

Shrubs:
Buxus sempervirens, Chimonanthus praecox, Corylus avellana, Hibiscus syriacus “Rosea Plena”, Laurus nobilis, Philadelphus “Belle Etoile”, rose “Bonica”, “Felicia”, “Penelope”, Rosmarinus officinalis, Spiraea thunbergii, Syringa x persica “Laciniat”, Viburnum x burkwoodii, Viburnum opulus “Sterile”, Viburnum tinus and V.t. “Eve Price”.

Creeping plants:
Lonicera x heckrottii, and the roses “Albéric Barbier”, “Clair Matin”, “Pierre de Rosard”, Rosa banksiae “Lutea”.

Perennials:
Acanthus mollis, Vinca minor, aromatic herbs.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)