The Centro Internazionale Civiltà dell’Acqua [International Centre for the Civilization of Water] is a Veneto non-profit created “to achieve a more longsighted management of water resources and to spread new knowledge and more sustainable behaviours regarding the water and landscape heritage“. The Centre is also the creator and mainstay of the “Water Museum of Venice” (a member of the Water Museums Global Network). This is a digital museum that covers the area of the Tre Venezie, illustrating famous and historic landscapes that are closely connected to water and to the natural heritage. It provides geo-referenced digital routes, via a free downloadable audioguide, that accompany the visitor while offering further information, videos and interviews at various points along the way.
So far, so similar to the existing apps on nature and on cultural or artistic locations. These routes have features that make them unique, however: they are at once a historical reconstruction, a natural journey, an ecological solution and an educational trail. A few dozen are available, some of them in both English and Italian https://www.watermuseumofvenice.com/tour. This is the latest one, on Meolo. Here is the introduction:
“Perfect symbiosis between humanity and Nature can exist, and the Belvedere Wood in Meolo, which has been restored and is now completely accessible, confirms this.
An area of reforestation created in 1998 with the planting of 34,000 trees and shrubs on an area of 18 hectares, the Bosco Belvedere currently houses a Piave Servizi purification plant for urban wastewater and an EcoCentre run by Veritas. The environmental assessments carried out in the process of restoring the area, by Piave Servizi, the Comune of Meolo and other local bodies, determined that the Wood does not suffer any “stress” as a result of the structures located within it, both of which are constructed to high environmental standards, but rather constitutes a replicable model of “symbiosis between the environment and built plant”.
This symbiosis can be seen in the compensation for the carbon footprint of the built structures thanks to the Wood’s natural capacity for reabsorption; the Wood in return receives environmental benefits from the release of purified effluent and the controlled collection of urban waste, as well as from the purified water from the Piave Servizi plant, which helps make the Wood a green oasis.
A census of flora and fauna has been carried out and analysed by a Scientific Committee, which showed that although the Wood was artificially created, it is well-established in terms of maturity, stability and biodiversity. The Wood is therefore a natural area in which environmental, landscape and historical–cultural elements are blended together, an outstanding example of natural heritage linked to the protection of biodiversity and the Sustainable Development goals.”
All that remains is for us to wish everyone an enjoyable walk or, for those who have to take part virtually, happy viewing.
For more info: info@civiltacqua.org and http://www.civiltacqua.org/
Gruppo Suolo Europa 