The first renovation site of the Botanical Garden of the University of Parma, relating to works financed under the PNRR investment line “Programmi per valorizzare l’identità dei luoghi: parchi e giardini storici”, supported by the European Union – NextGenerationEU.
The work, in fact a first part of a larger restyling of the garden in Via Farini, involved the conservative restoration of internal pathways, fountains, stone flower beds and the gate and access staircase from Viale Martiri della Libertà, restored to its original colours. A lighting and irrigation system was also installed for all 11,000 square metres of the garden, with a recovery of the water used to feed the fountains.
The most important operation involved the construction of a new exhibition greenhouse to be dedicated to succulent plants, built according to the specific ecological requirements of high-altitude Cactaceae. The decision to create a small rock garden and a large dry garden, as well as the refurbishment of the wetlands, followed one of the most important guidelines for the future management of the Garden: to represent a sort of “urban embassy” of the most relevant and sensitive habitats in the area, in synergy with the framework agreement that the University has recently signed with the Ente Parchi del Ducato.
The work also laid the foundations for the complete redevelopment of the offer in terms of communication, education and accessibility, with the creation of new visitor routes based on the balance between the multimedia component and direct experience, increasing the dimension of the visual, olfactory, sound and tactile landscape. Finally, more historic trees were secured through modern arboricultural approaches aimed at prolonging their life, to be illustrated to the public as a correct management model for the urban tree component.
The closure of the PNRR funding activities now allows the start of a new phase in the parallel building renovation project involving the Botanical Garden’s historical buildings, including the Ferdinandee Greenhouses and the School of Botany. This second line of action, which has benefited from a fundamental impulse and active collaboration from “Parma, io ci sto!”, is co-financed by the University of Parma, the Ministry of University and Research, the Cariparma Foundation and the Chiesi Group.
The restoration project, developed in its executive phase by the companies Mazzei Architects srl, Faccio Engineering srl and SC Engineering srl starting with the final design by arch. Guido Canali, focuses on a conservative approach, aimed at preserving the historical and botanical structures while enhancing the existing spaces.
The intervention aims to guarantee maximum flexibility of use, which in the case of the 18th century Serre Ferdinandee will translate into the reconstruction of the roof and systems, the restoration of the historical glass windows and the recovery of the interior spaces, to be used mainly for the conservation of plants but also for educational and exhibition activities, maintaining flexibility for future changes. The greenhouse forecourt is preserved, preserving the existing vegetation, restoring the greenhouses, the characteristic balustrade and the warm beds intended for winter sheltering of the Parma Violet.
A new elevated walkway will be built, with a pergola to house new plant collections on the north side of the Ferdinandee greenhouses. The west end, a building erected in the 1960s next to the greenhouses themselves, will be rebuilt in a new contemporary look to house reception, cafeteria and bookshop activities. The structure will be characterised by green walls, which will also be placed along the eastern portion of the Serre Ferdinandee to screen the service rooms; the choice of the plants to be used, climbing and others, is the result of joint work between the Botanical Garden staff and the agronomist landscape architect Annachiara Vendramin.
The School of Botany, originally built in 1859, will instead undergo conservative restoration and consolidation; it will be refurbished to house a small botanical museum on the ground floor, dedicated to the collections of herbals, books, prints and other botanical objects belonging to the University of Parma and other institutions, in continuity with the cultural and popular line already set out in 2024 with the “Impronte – Noi e le Piante” exhibition. The upper floor will instead house the archive of herbaria and the rest of the historical book collections, allowing them to be consulted, which is currently precluded.
Finally, a technical room will be created in a portion of the basement of the Via Farini building for the district heating exchanger. The connection to the city grid replaces the construction of the originally planned geothermal plant, guaranteeing a significant reduction in interference with the existing vegetation, which is subject to protection.
The entire project is the result of the joint work of several competences present in the University, in total synergy with the lines that are inspiring the refurbishment of the Museum of Natural History. In both museum structures of the University of Parma, the intention is to express the depth of the relationship between people and nature in an integrated and user-centred key, amalgamating in a single voice botanical, zoological, naturalistic, landscape, cultural, historical, aesthetic and social aspects that are often illustrated and experienced separately. Once this intervention has been completed, the Botanical Garden will become a place of dialogue and aggregation, capable of hosting events and educational courses to raise awareness of environmental, cultural and scientific issues among the population.
The ultimate objective is to adapt the structure to the contemporary dynamics of scientific popularisation without losing its fundamental historical roots or botanical identity: from places for the mere conservation and exhibition of local and exotic plant species to platforms for communicating and discussing major issues with society, in a reciprocal growth, also through the dissemination of correct environmental education, seeking to attract audiences on both a local and national scale.
