Bosco di Mestre

Bosco di Mestre is one of the most important environmental projects the Municipality of Venice is using to improve its territory. With its 230 hectares, this true urban forest fits into the urban context of the City of Venice – a small green lung in the heart of town. The forest project is aimed at increasing biodiversity by restoring lowland forests and renaturalizing waterways. Bosco di Carpenedo, Bosco dell’Osellino, Bosco di Campalto and the vast Querini areas with Bosco Ottolenghi, Bosco di Franca and Bosco Zaher surround the residential area of Mestre with a forest that year by year is increasingly assuming the natural appearance typical of lowland forests. The idea of giving Mestre a large periurban forest originated around 1984 from a widespread environmental movement opposing the construction of the new hospital near the Carpenedo grove: it was under the Azienda Regionale delle Foreste (Regional Forestry Company), with Gaetano Zorzetto as a councillor, that the project took shape and has now become a reality.

The project envisions the creation of about 10 new hectares of mostly forested areas, in the Municipality of Venice and in particular in the area surronding the lagoon northeast of the residential area of Mestre. The selection of species will make it possible to enhance some lesser-known functions of the forest, such as the production of fruits -“food forest”- the possibility of beekeeping due to the presence of melliferous species, and the creation of habitats suitable for birdlife and for fauna connected with wetlands. The project is conceived to have positive environmental and social impacts that also benefit local residents.

Specifically, the positive impacts for the area and its citizens are: protecting the land from flooding, renaturalizing and increasing biodiversity, creating recreational and leisure areas, educating on the environment and creating a “natural living laboratory,” recovering historical memory and strengthening the city’s identity.