The improvement of the composition and floristic richness of the woods and their enhancement from an ecosystem point of view. These are the objectives of a large forest improvement project that the Temple of Speed will carry out over a five-year period. The interventions will concern the wooded areas in concession to the circuit within the Monza Park and provide for the planting of almost 6 thousand new native trees.
The program, commissioned by the Monza National Circuit and designed by a pool of agronomists and forestry doctors hired by the circuit, obtained a loan of approximately 160 thousand euros from the Lombardy Region as part of a call published by the Directorate General for Agriculture, Food and Green Systems . The full-bodied study, authorized by the Valle del Lambro Regional Park and the Archaeological, Fine Arts and Landscape Superintendence and reviewed by independent agronomist experts, includes two different work plans.
The first will affect an area of just under 12 hectares, particularly degraded due to damage due to a tornado, near the Biassono curve. In the area there are invasive exotic species which, despite interventions in the nineties, have continued to proliferate, preventing the regrowth of the native and characteristic plants of the Park.
The forestry company in charge of the work will carry out selective cuts on the weeds, dead or unsafe specimens and at the same time contain the growth of the youngest invasive specimens. The activities will not concern the areas furthest away from public use, to protect the shelters and the habitat of the local fauna. The Autodrome will then plant 2,610 young seedlings of oak, English oak, hornbeam and other ecologically consistent species. The new systems will be treated for five years with emergency irrigation and clearing until they are fully established.
The second intervention instead aims to improve the composition and floristic richness of the forest, also pursuing the enhancement of the aesthetics and usability of the places. The surface of the intervention is mainly distributed between the curves of Lesmo, Ascari, the north elevated and the Alboreto. In the identified areas, about 54 hectares wide, 3 thousand new native trees will be planted including elms, ash and maple trees. Also for these lots, once they have been cleaned of dead, perishable or invasive plants, monitoring of the new grafts will be guaranteed for five years so that they can grow luxuriantly.
Alessandra Zinno, General Manager of Autodromo Nazionale Monza, explains: „As is known, the Temple of Speed is located within the Monza Park, one of the largest and most prosperous green spaces in Europe. It is therefore our duty to preserve it with practical and positive impact activities. Already with the last two editions of the ACI Rally Monza, we have shown how attentive the racetrack is to safeguarding the park, implementing, in a few weeks, environmental sustainability initiatives that have earned us recognition by the International Automobile Federation. , first of the ‚FIA 1 Star‘ and then of the ‚FIA 2 Stars‘. The new forest improvement program continues in the same direction and highlights how, even in the long term, the protection of greenery is at the top of the list of our company’s objectives ».
The project, created by the will of the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, is in fact part of the many sustainable proposals of the circuit. Among these, we also remember a recent agreement with the Urban Green Office of the Municipality of Monza for the beautification of a garden that will soon be used as a lounge area in the Monza Experience activities. The circuit will in fact use 29 plants on loan (ficus benjamin, yucca, aralia and ivy) so far grown in the municipal greenhouses to furnish a green area of about 4 thousand square meters which will also have the purpose of enhancing the work of the municipal technicians.
„The partnership with the Autodromo Nazionale Monza allows us to enhance the extraordinary work of caring for the greenery of the royal greenhouses“, underlines the Councilor for Territorial Policies and the Environment Martina Sassoli. „They are a heritage of the city that in recent years we have also supported with innovative projects such as the one which, in collaboration with Soroptimist, has brought the ancient citrus fruits of Ferdinand of Habsburg back to the gardens of Villa Reale after more than two centuries. They are paths like this and like that of the Monza Experience that allow us to increase awareness and knowledge about the theme of environmental sustainability, stimulating a cultural change especially in the new generations.
