The district Stadium it’s the most green from the city Of Lecce together with the neighborhoods Kolbe-St. John the Baptist And San Sabino. This is decreed by the census promoted by the Lecce municipal administration, concerning the city’s arboreal heritage which was approved yesterday morning by the council led by Mayor Carlo Salvemini to implement a 2013 national law (“Regulations for the development of urban green spaces”). Below, in the ranking of the areas with the highest percentage of trees and evergreen spaces, there are the Rudiae-San Pio, Santa Rosa, Borgo San Nicola, Ferrovia-Casermette neighborhoods and then all the others. The Mazzini neighborhood has the lowest quantity, “two extremes to be balanced and qualified” the Municipality promises. This is a detailed study that reveals how 28,092 trees stand out in the parks, on the streets and in the sky of Lecce, all of which fall within the spaces owned by the municipality. This means that there are 27 trees for every 100 inhabitants, a figure considered in line with the national average, and which the administration intends to “increase”. There are 10 main tree species present which represent 73% of those registered, and the holm oak comes first with 5,268 individuals. Of the general total, live trees are 93.6%, while there are 600 compromised trees and 5.1% of holes with stumps. «It is a situation that is decidedly less catastrophic than what people want to say – explains the councilor for urban planning policies and the green plan Rita Miglietta -. This census is not just a set of qualitative and quantitative data, rather it is a heritage, a collective endowment, a real capital of social, cultural, environmental and economic value, which we strongly wanted to clarify and give to the city. It was our duty to do it, no one had ever started it. The census of the city’s greenery, together with the first extract regulation recently approved, are two important pieces of the greenery plan, we will also shortly close the tree balance sheet.”
The census analysis
The study was not limited to trees, but also included hedges and shrubs that are part of what the Ministry of the Environment has defined as “urban forest”, and all equipped green areas such as urban parks, small equipped green areas neighborhood and neighbourhood, open spaces dedicated to sport, pedestrian spaces with trees and greenery, play areas, urban gardens, forestation areas, greenery for street furniture. The entire city was explored, including the villages and marinas, and the flowerbeds and treeless streets were also mapped and numbered. Each tree was surveyed and georeferenced. «For a city as large as ours and which has always lacked a systematic cognitive framework, it was not easy – continues councilor Miglietta – it took a lot of will, patience and dedication, thanks to an agreement signed with the Department of Sciences and Biological and Environmental Technologies of the University of Salento which saw professor Antonella Albano and agronomist Fabio Ippolito engaged in the drafting of an encyclopedic work together with the offices. A work that we carried out together with the Department of the Environment with Angela Valli and the Public Works, with the manager Maurizio Guido and the Rup (responsible for the procedure) Antonio De Rinaldis».
Lecce, therefore, adds a new piece for the protection and reforestation of its environmental heritage. Already this year the Legambiente and Ambiente Italia study “Urban Ecosystem” had found that Lecce recorded «the best result ever, placing itself in fortieth place, first in Puglia, second among the cities of Southern Italy». «We must continue like this – says the councilor -. Let’s think about the projects financed with the Pnrr, the Belloluogo expansion, a new park in Santa Rosa, and then the forestation area in Borgo Pace and the strengthening of the arboreal heritage of the Botanical Garden, and the 13 agroforestry parks planned in the Pug which they serve to embrace the city with large green areas of free use.”
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