Bellezza Italia - Capoprati
The Capoprati Park restores the beauty of the Tiber
Hundreds of volunteers have been working to revive and rescue one of the most important green areas of the city from neglect
Legambiente and the Unipol Group present the new project carried out within the scope of Bellezza Italia, the partnership created to return compromised areas to the common good.
In recent months, hundreds of volunteers have rolled up their sleeves to save the Capoprati Park in Rome from degradation and neglect. One of the last natural areas of the Italian capital has finally been returned to the people: safety measures, maintenance and gardening, new décor, information signs as well as new access to the Tiber allow citizens to regain contact with their river.
In short, the innovative new environmental education centre is taking shape as imagined by Legambiente and the Unipol Group in the scope of Bellezza Italia (Italian beauty), the campaign involving the two organizations in the proposal and implementation of actions for the restoration and renewal of degraded areas in Italy, returning them to be enjoyed by citizens.
The initiatives carried out and the work scheduled for the coming months were presented this morning at the Capoprati Park by Rossella Muroni, General Manager of Legambiente, Maria Luisa Parmigiani, Head of Sustainability at the Unipol Group, Roberto Scacchi, Chairman of Legambiente Lazio and Massimo Di Stefano, Chairman of the Legambiente Capoprati association, in the presence of Cristiana Avenali, Lazio Region Councillor, Marcello Ribera, Councillor of XV Sub‐municipality of Rome and the Legambiente volunteers involved in the work carried out over these past months.
“With Bellezza Italia we wanted to renew our commitment to the Capoprati Park, one of the great resources of this city, in order to finally rediscover the Tiber and its precious ecosystem,” stated Rossella Muroni, General Manager of Legambiente. “What was once a riverside treasure, in fact, risked disappearing despite the tenacity and dedication of the volunteers. Today we are launching a new challenge focusing on the direct participation of all citizens, in order to allow the revitalisation of the Park. The commitment and dedication that young volunteers are contributing to this initiative prove that returning beauty to our country is not only a sacred work of restoration, but above all the best way to give hope and vision to the future, towards achievable development.”
“The Capoprati initiative has a significant meaning for us: it is not only a project for environmental restoration and protection in line with the Bellezza Italia campaign, but it is also an initiative for the maintenance of waterways, thanks to the help of volunteers, to reduce the hydrogeological risk as we would like to promote in different areas of the country,” stated Maria Luisa Parmigiani, Head of Sustainability at the Unipol Group. “A choice of continuity and experimentation, able to guide other initiatives such as the one we will promote with Eppela on the Sarno river.”
The Park – covering approximately 7 thousand m2 in the heart of Rome, located on the eponymous Via Capoprati – came to life in 2001 thanks to the reclamation operations carried out by Legambiente volunteers. After two floods in 2008 and 2012, Capoprati suffered extensive damage and was likely to close. The Bellezza Italia project made it possible to clean up and implement safety measures throughout the area, renovate furnishings and park facilities, while contributing to recreate a sense of belonging to this beautiful area among the community. The path allowing safe access to the banks of the Tiber has been restored, where rafting activities have resumed, reconnecting the green space to its natural riverside front. In the coming months work will continue to complete the maintenance of facilities to make the Park more and more accessible, also with special attention to pets, and for the realisation of educational, natural, historical and cultural tourism. This location in the heart of the city will host educational projects for elementary and middle schools, gardening and maintenance activities, recreation and a generational exchange between the young and not so young on a journey of scientific, historical and cultural discovery. The project also provides for the planting of additional tree and flower species.
