TURIN. In the greenest city in Italy, with 16 square kilometers of publicly managed parks, gardens and trees, the tall grass is in the details. Like the devil. The postcards of the great Turin lungs such as Valentino, Pellerina or Ruffini convey the idea of a lush greenery, perhaps a little wild, certainly livable. But it is in small lawns, from dog parks to children’s playgrounds, that tall grass invades living space. And it also does it on the sidewalks, with plants more than one and a half meters tall, abandoned bikes covered in grass, tram tracks submerged in weeds. The sum of these details creates an emergency, as already happened last year, which residents no longer want to bear it: “This is also a symptom of city degradation”.
From the suburbs to the city centre, there is no corner of Turin that is not invaded by climbing plants, weeds and shrubs. The most critical situations are between Parella, Pozzo Strada and Borgo San Paolo. Here the company that won the mowings, Isam of Viterbo, started late. In the green area between via Bellardi and via Invorio, in front of the Bellarte Theatre, the grass is more than one meter high. The situation does not improve 300 meters later, in via Servais 92, where it seems like walking among ears of wheat. Joseph Porcello, a local resident, reports a danger: “As a dog sitter, I hear many stories of dogs injured by forasacchi.” But it’s a problem for people too: «The children here can’t even play football. And who knows what they step on».
In Corso Monte Cucco the cycle path wedged between the two lanes dedicated to cars is invaded by tall grass. Marilena reads on a bench, next to her a plant seems to be sitting next to her: “It’s not a good image for the city”, she comments. At the end of Corso Brunelleschi the plants stand out above the people walking along the sidewalk along the Permanence Center for Repatriation: «The fact that no one passes there doesn’t mean that the cuttings aren’t useful» they denounce from behind the counter of the Gelateria Del Corso.
The situation, walking towards the center, does not improve. Even in Crocetta, at the foot of the Fante in front of the Polytechnic, the grass seems to need a refresher. And if in front of Porta Nuova the greenery emergency has been resolved, going up along the rivers neglected corners emerge. Like Corso San Maurizio, where the land between the tram tracks is submerged in weeds, and all along Lungo Dora. Even in Colletta park, unlike the other large parks, the lawn reaches 1.70 meters in height.
Corso Monte Cucco (photo Alberto Giachino – Reporters)
In the last 24 hours, the Municipality has implemented 27 interventions in as many points of the city. Corso Vittorio, Corso Magellano, Corso Correnti, Via Nitti, Via Artom, Via Nichelino, Corso Telesio, Via Lanzo, Via Pianezza, Via Loncavallo, Via Aosta, Corso Casale. The list of works is long, and involved every neighborhood. But it’s not enough. Just as the increase in resources dedicated to the maintenance of public green areas compared to 2023 is not enough: 640 thousand euros have been added to the 2 million euros initially allocated for district green areas. While for the greenery managed by the central service, i.e. the large parks, the overall allocation is around 3 million euros of which around 1.3 for mowing (plus 1.8 million for the maintenance and control of tree lines).
Lungo Dora Florence (photo Alberto Giachino – Reporters)
In the second part of his mandate, Mayor Stefano Lo Russo announced that he wanted to “work on the small things, which aren’t so small”. Today, greenery is the priority: the aim is not to repeat the emergency of summer 2023, when extra interventions had to be resorted to with municipal civil protection also involved.
