In Vicenza, Mantua and Quistello, de-paving, ecosystem restoration and new urban and school green spaces, with academic staff of Università Iuav di Venezia as scientific contact persons

Three projects developed under the scientific coordination of academic staff of Università Iuav di Venezia are among the eleven supported by Fondazione CariVerona’s Capitale Naturale 2026 call, which has awarded a total of €4.5 million to initiatives to regenerate the environment and territory in five provinces (Ancona, Belluno, Mantua, Verona and Vicenza). The list of supported projects was approved by the Foundation’s Board of administration on 25 September 2026.

I paesaggi del tempo lento (The landscapes of slow time) received €300,000 to create a nature-based educational park of approximately 7,000 square metres in Quistello, in the province of Mantua. The municipal area, close to the Sabbioncello canal and the school complex, is part of the environmental system of the Parco delle Golene del Secchia. The three-year project provides for the creation of diverse habitats such as permanent meadows, tree-lined rows and orchards, pedestrian and cycle-pedestrian paths, educational gardens and spaces for outdoor activities, and involves schools, associations and citizens in the design and future care of the park. The Municipality of Quistello is the lead partner and Iuav is the scientific partner, with Francesco Gastaldi and Leonardo Filesi as contact persons. The University of Ferrara, the social cooperative Alkémica and the firm Neostudio Architetti Associati with Riccardo Miselli also take part in the project. Iuav receives a share of the resources for urban planning and environmental scientific coordination and for monitoring, as well as for delivering lessons within the educational programme in schools.

Plug-Green (pre-vegetated garden modules for de-paving and naturalising urban areas) received €435,000. The Municipality of Vicenza is the beneficiary body and the scientific contact person for Iuav is Mattia Bertin. The project aims to reduce the climate vulnerability of ten sites in the city that are particularly exposed to heat, flood risk and social fragility, through de-paving and the planting of pre-vegetated garden modules, guided by the 3-30-300 principle. Plug-Green reverses the process of carrying out renaturalisation: with a “plug-in” approach, borrowed from information technology and the management of social services, once the project’s needs have been defined, the modules are built and standardised in the laboratory, then immediately installed at the identified sites. The result is a finished product, rather than a series of fragmented operations. The aim is to develop a replicable, low-cost “turnkey” module, to be tested in Vicenza and transferred to ten municipalities in the provinces covered by Fondazione CariVerona through an autonomous adoption protocol.

VERSO (Valorizzazione Ecologica e Rigenerazione Sostenibile degli spazi urbani, or Ecological Enhancement and Sustainable Regeneration of Urban Spaces) obtained €444,000 for restoration and redevelopment interventions with an ecosystem-based approach to green spaces and for strengthening ecological connections in the consolidated city of Mantua. The Municipality of Mantua is the lead partner of the project, of which Iuav is the scientific partner, with Giulia Lucertini and Francesco Musco as contact persons, together with Interno Verde, a cooperative company and non-profit social enterprise. Iuav will carry out capacity-building and training activities for the benefit of the Municipality, to increase its institutional capacity on topics such as spatial planning and the implementation of nature-based solutions. It will also organise activities to engage the local community, including citizens, schools and younger generations, and will support the administration in defining long-term maintenance strategies for the interventions carried out.

Image: Mantua seen from above, photo by Giulia Lucertini