Plant and animal biodiversity also finds refuge in cities, contexts that we are mistakenly accustomed to thinking of only as gray and inhospitable agglomerations of concrete. Here terraces, gardens and public parks, railway embankments, water collections and even cracks in walls are the habitat of numerous species which can find favorable conditions to survive here.
Several studies conducted in recent years have highlighted the importance of biodiversity within urban contexts: this research has highlighted the multiple benefits that the variety of living beings present in cities brings to the environment and the quality of our lives, taking I realize that 55% of people today live in urban centers and by 2050 this percentage will rise to 70%.
Botanical gardens are fully among the representative places of urban biodiversity and for centuries they have carried out their work of conservation and study of plant species from all over the world and are open-air museums, places where you can enter into relationships with plants. Plant organisms, in fact, support us from all points of view: they give us oxygen and food and regulate the planet’s climate and the microclimate of our cities, for example, but they often simply form the “backdrop” to our daily lives, not we see them. The Botanical Gardens remind us how important it is to notice the plants, all the plants around us. Let us get used to looking at them carefully, as living beings to be respected, because our survival depends on them. The invitation is to go beyond what is now defined as “plant blindness”. Plants concern us.
A special opportunity to approach the issues of biodiversity in June is given by the Summer Solstice Festival in the Botanical Gardens of Lombardy, now in its 21st edition.
We invite you to follow the website www.reteortibotanicilombardia.it to be updated on the complete programs.
Below, the dissemination events aimed at enhancing biodiversity put in place by the botanical gardens belonging to the Lombardy network. Most of these initiatives are carried out within the SVING – Scienza Viva project. Botanical gardens and gardens of delight – Ancient knowledge and new practices for the diffusion of scientific culture.
“Lorenzo Rota” Botanical Garden of Bergamo
June opening times:
Upper Town Section – A window on the landscape: from 10:00 to 20:00
Astino Section – Biodiversity Valley: 10:00 – 12:00 / 14:00 – 20:00
On Thursday 13 June, at 5.30 pm, the exhibition will be inaugurated – created by M9 Museo del ‘900 in Mestre (VE) – “TREES – 30 fragments of Italian history”, curated by Annalisa Metta, Giovanni Morelli and Daniele Zovi. On display are 30 original drawings of trees by Guido Scarabottolo, in large format, accompanied by 30 short stories and information on botanical characters. From the introduction by Michelangela Di Giacomo: “Trees that tell us about travel and exoticism, exploration, trade; trees that speak to us of political projects, of the Risorgimento, of small homelands and imperial dreams, of economic miracles and restless modernisms; trees that bring back to us the distant echo of saints and bandits, of partisans and sorcerers, of disappeared professions and of ancient and wise hands. Trees that tell us about us, as Italians, about who we were and who we have become and which, upon closer inspection, could open up some glimpses into what we would like to become and the country we would like to live in.” The exhibition can be visited at the Sala Viscontea in Piazza Cittadella, in Bergamo Alta, on Saturdays and Sundays until 30 September.
The “Flowers on the plate” initiative will be held on Thursday 6 June, at 4pm, a guided tour of the flora of the Biodiversity Valley – Sec. of Astino of the Botanical Garden and conference on edible flowers, organized by CREA – Horticulture and Floriculture of Sanremo (IM).
Sunday 16 June, at 10:00 and 11:30, the naturalistic drawing workshop “Discovery, drawing and plants” is scheduled at the Città Alta section.
On Saturday 22 June, the afternoon event entitled “Biodiversity on the plate” will be dedicated to the training of teachers, presentation of the activities carried out by the European ‘Food Trails’ project, show cooking and workshop for families from garden to table, to discover how biodiversity nourishes us and the world. And then workshops for girls and boys “The Children’s Museum” (Sunday 16 June, 5.30 pm) and “Little herbalists in the botanical garden” (Sunday 23 June, 5.00 pm) as part of the Museum Pass initiative Lombardy.
All events are free. For the complete calendar with dates, times and methods of participation, visit the website www.ortobotanicodibergamo.it
“Rezia” Alpine Botanical Garden of Bormio
The Garden is open from May to October: from 1 June to 13 September: every day 10.00 – 13.00 / 15.00 – 18.00, Saturday and Sunday from 18 May to 15 September: non-stop 10.00 – 18.00.
From the first Thursday of June, free guided tours are scheduled, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. From June 18th, children’s workshops will take place on Tuesdays and Fridays.
From the end of June to September a rich offer of scientific events, dedicated to poisonous plants, those that change the mind, medicinal ones and dyeing plants and artistic-cultural events, such as concerts, embroidery workshops and much more. The last dates are being defined and the calendar will be published shortly on the website www.stelviopark.it.
On Friday 21 June, at 10.30am and 3.30pm, by participating in the “Science and pressed art” event, organized on the occasion of the Solstice Festival, visitors will have at their disposal a KIT containing a map and various observation and importance to discover the biodiversity of the Garden through the creation of small herbariums, with a particular focus on Euphorbia cyparissias, Rododendrum hirsutum, Digitalis grandiflora, Lilium martagon, Fagus Sylvatica, Saponaria officinalis. The KIT will also remain available to visitors during other dedicated events that will be organized during the summer season.
Brera Botanical Garden, in Milan
Opening hours: Mon-Sat except holidays, 10am-6pm. Free admission
The “Éloge de la plante” event will be held on Friday 31 May and Saturday 1 June (at 5.00pm, 6.00pm and 7.00pm), a musical performance for electronics and voice, first performance in Italy, with guided tour at the Botanical Garden, as part of the 33rd Milano Musica Festival. Three shifts for each day. (Tickets €6). Info www.ortibotanici.unimi.it.
On the occasion of the Solstice festival, the Botanical Garden plans an extraordinary opening on Sunday 23 June, to talk about biodiversity with a particular interpretation: the historical collection of 183 Ginori porcelain labels, some of which will be on display. Guided tours for adults are planned, with a focus on the Milan of the time and on the history of the Botanical Garden with its plants of yesterday and today. Furthermore there will be an artistic-botanical laboratory dedicated to children and teenagers on the topic of scientific nomenclature.
All appointments, guided tours and workshops are by reservation. For info and reservations visit the website www.ortibotanici.unimi.it.
“Città Studi” Botanical Garden, in Milan
Opening hours: Tuesday to Thursday from 10:00 to 17:00 (excluding public holidays)
Friday from 10:00 to 16:00 (excluding public holidays). Free admission.
On the occasion of the Summer Solstice Festival, Thursday 20 June, after the usual opening hours, the Garden will be open from 5.30pm to 9pm with guided tours of the Garden and its permanent installations, such as those on forensic botany, the domestication of plants and the collection of dyeing plants. Stations will also be set up where the most representative specimens from the Garden’s collections will be presented.
“GE Ghirardi” Botanical Garden of Toscolano Maderno (BS)
The Botanical Garden can be visited regularly until 15 September (Friday 3.30pm-6.30pm; Sat. 9.30am-12.30pm – 3.30pm-6.30pm; Sun. 9.30am-12.30pm) also thanks to the involvement of a group of 18 volunteers, adequately trained in the field of the interesting Green circuit project – journey inside and outside the Botanical Garden, created in collaboration with the Municipality of Toscolano Maderno. The project was born with the intention of creating and promoting a range of cultural offers that are part of a virtuous tourist circuit, a green circuit, in which the plant world represents the element of union and union between three local realities: the Garden botanist GE Ghirardi, the Bernini Park with the Church of S. Andrea and the Valley of the Paper Mills.
On the occasion of the Solstice celebration, the Botanical Garden will be open on 14, 15 and 16 June and will be animated by thematic itineraries, guided tours, scientific conversations for all ages, open-air readings, creative workshops for children, artistic digressions, multi-voiced stories about food and knowledge, sensory explorations of plants at night to discover tactile and olfactory sensations. Detailed program on www.reteortibotanicilombardia.it
Pavia Botanical Garden
The Botanical Garden is open from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00 to 17:00 (last entry at 16:30). https://ortobotanico.unipv.eu/visita/biglietti/
The start of the construction sites of the project financed by the PNRR is imminent, which involves the expansion of the collections, the creation of a new entrance with info-point/ticket office and an important restoration of the Scopoli greenhouses. The presence of the construction site will make only some sections temporarily open to visitors, including the arboretum, where the historic monumental plane tree stands. In any case, from 16 June to the end of August, the Botanical Garden will be closed.
A special section is set up and can be visited at Kosmos – Museum of Natural History, where 6 didactic botanical models from the 19th century are displayed, selected from the 150 that make up the entire historical collection of the University of Pavia: Linum verticissimum, Aconitum napellus, Dionea muscipula , Taxus baccata, Linaria vulgaris, Equisetum.
These are six botanical species that represent biodiversity well and were chosen both for their peculiar characteristics and for the beauty of the models. They will be the protagonists of an event on Friday 21 June, from 5.30pm to 8.00pm, on the occasion of the Summer Solstice celebration: botanical themed insights, historical, literary and artistic digressions and finally an interactive station on the flax plant where it will be possible to experiment with fiber extraction and discover the secrets of an extraordinary plant.