Last updated: October 2021
The Royal Gardens, situated between Piazza San Marco and the Bacino di San Marco, came into being during the Napoleonic occupation of the city and used to be a space for recreational activities for locals for many years after the monarchy was over. During past decades, the gardens have progressively deteriorated. Their original design is now barely legible, in terms both of geometrical patterns and the placement of trees and shrubs. They were rapidly becoming a derelict area. This intervention consists of their recovery by restoring the original vegetation by recovering still-living plants and introducing new ones. Between 2015 and 2019 the Gardens underwent complex restoration, carried out by the Foundation and planned by the gardener and landscape architect Paolo Pejrone, student of Russell Page and Roberto Burle-Marx, while architectural renovation and the rebuilding of the greenhouse was planned by architect Alberto Torsello, based on a project drawn up by Carlo Aymonino and Gabriella Barbini. Reopened in December 2019, the Royal Gardens, rich in unexpected perspectives and luxuriant growth, have reacquired their formal excellence and botanical complexity, in coherence with their historic nineteenth-century design. (1, 2 and 7).
Venice Gadens Foundation
https://www.venicegardensfoundation.org/en/restoration-royal-gardens
Overview
Nature-based solution
- Parks and urban forests
- Pocket parks/neighbourhood green spaces
Key challenges
- Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
- Habitat and biodiversity restoration
- Habitat and biodiversity conservation
- Green space creation and/or management
- Cultural heritage and cultural diversity
- Preservation of natural heritage
- Protection of historic and cultural landscape/infrastructure
Focus
Maintenance and management of urban nature, Ecological restoration of ecosystems, Monitoring and maintenance of habitats and/or biodiversity
Project objectives
To recover the ancient vegetal beauty of the Royal Gardens and make them an example of beautiful and sustainable green space in the centre of Venice, by restoring the already present plant species and introducing new young ones (1, 2 and 3).
Implementation activities
In particular, the botanical and landscaping restoration of the gardens was carried out, aiming for simplicity, drawing on the original Austrian idea, which was to create a Mediterranean atmosphere with citrus and jasmine as the architect Pejrone emphasized. Lagoon birds were introduced. Following the old landscape designs, on its east side, holm oaks formed a soft but thick and compact evergreen screen, with a large niche serving to close the perspective towards the pergola, while on the opposite side grove of bamboo composed of plants of varying heights and with different types of leaves. In the direction of Fondamenta di San Marco, the existing evergreen screens, essential for protecting the garden from the capricious weather of the lagoon, remained. They were interplanted with mastic and fragrant clerodendrum, edged on the parterre side with a border of Beschorneria yuccoides and agapanthus (1 and 2).
Biodiversity conservation or restoration-focused activities
Biodiversity conservation:
- Protect and enhance urban habitats
- Preserve and strengthen existing habitats and ecosystems
- Promote environmentally-sound development in and around protected areas
- Reduce negative impacts and avoid the alteration/damage of ecosystem
- Protect species
- Undertake specific measures to protect species
- Control and clean invasive alien species
- Means for conservation governance
- Manage biological resources for conservation and sustainable use
Biodiversity restoration:
- Rehabilitate and restore damaged or destroyed ecosystems
- Restore species (native, endangered, or unspecified)
- Clear and control invasive alien species
Main beneficiaries
- Private sector/Corporate/Company
- Citizens or community groups
- Other
Governance
Management set-up
- Co-governance with government and non-government actors
Type of initiating organisation
- Private foundation/trust
Participatory approaches/ community involvement
- Dissemination of information and education
Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project
The Italian Government is the owner of the gardens. The Venice Gardens Foundation will be in concession for the space for 19 years, which can be renewed. The Foundation is led by Adele Re Rebaudengo and it was born precisely for the purpose of recovering this derelict space. Generali Insurance Company will finance the project. The architect Anna Chiarelli of the Superintendence of Venice and the designers who will curate the botanical garden, Paolo Pejrone, and the architectural part, Alberto Torsello, are developing the project of Carlo Aymonino and Gabriella Barbini (1).
Project implemented in response to ...
... an EU policy or strategy?
Unknown
... a national policy or strategy?
Yes
(The operation can be achieved thanks to a governmental regulation called Art Bonus, a deduction up to 65 percent set up by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage to promote a new patronage made in Italy. In the form of a tax credit for those who make money donations for the support of culture (3).)
... a local policy or strategy?
Unknown
Financing
Total cost
More than €4,000,000
Source(s) of funding
- Corporate investment
Type of funding
- Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
- Asset-backed funding (e.g., leasing)
Non-financial contribution
Unknown
Impacts and Monitoring
Environmental impacts
- Climate change
- Lowered local temperature
- Environmental quality
- Improved air quality
- Green space and habitat
- Increased number of protection areas
- Increased conservation or restoration of ecosystems
- Increase in protected green space areas
- Increased number of species present
- Improved prevention or control of invasive alien species
Economic impacts
- Attraction of business and investment
Socio-cultural impacts
- Social justice and cohesion
- Improved access to urban green space
- Health and wellbeing
- Gain in activities for recreation and exercise
- Cultural heritage and sense of place
- Protection of natural heritage
- Protection of historic and cultural landscape / infrastructure
- Education
- Increased support for education and scientific research
Type of reported impacts
Expected impacts, Achieved impacts
Presence of formal monitoring system
Unknown
Presence of indicators used in reporting
No evidence in public records
Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports
No evidence in public records
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
References
1. Tantucci, D. N. (2017) La Nuova Article: Available at: Source link. Accessed on 29th September, 2020.
2. Venice Garden Foundation (no date) Intervention website: Available at: Source link. Accessed on 29th September, 2020.
3. Carnazzi, S. (2017) Un luogo segreto e incantevole che presto riaprirà. Ecco come rinascono i Giardini Reali di Venezia. Lifegate. Available at: Source link. Accessed on 29th September, 2020.
4. Garden restoration: attached.
5. The new gardens: Available at: Source link. [not available as of September, 2020].
6. Live In Venice (2017). Available at: Source link. Accessed on 29th September, 2020.
7. Source link (no date). The Roya Garden Reopens: Venice Green. Available at: Source link. Accessed on 15th October, 2020.
2. Venice Garden Foundation (no date) Intervention website: Available at: Source link. Accessed on 29th September, 2020.
3. Carnazzi, S. (2017) Un luogo segreto e incantevole che presto riaprirà. Ecco come rinascono i Giardini Reali di Venezia. Lifegate. Available at: Source link. Accessed on 29th September, 2020.
4. Garden restoration: attached.
5. The new gardens: Available at: Source link. [not available as of September, 2020].
6. Live In Venice (2017). Available at: Source link. Accessed on 29th September, 2020.
7. Source link (no date). The Roya Garden Reopens: Venice Green. Available at: Source link. Accessed on 15th October, 2020.