Historic gardens and parks are important elements of the cultural landscape. Created for the pleasure and the fame of their private owners they have undergone dramatic changes in use and management practices, which often threaten their survival. Preservation laws and practices are often built around archeological, historical and architectural concepts that can be insufficient or inappropriate for a successful management of trees and vegetation within the parks. Preservation of the green architectures, woodlands and individual trees requires the management of dynamic processes, influenced by environmental and social factors. Such processes can pertain to single trees from their germination or planting to their senescence, removal and regeneration, or they can pertain to whole populations in their evolution guided by succession and competition processes. The management of historic vegetation requires specific multidisciplinary competences, based on the current knowledge in plant ecology, agronomy, arboriculture, plant pathology and entomology applied within a framework where the essential and close relationship between the living component the cultural and historic value of the architectural design is fully recognized. To contribute to the creation and diffusion of these competences the University of Padova recentely established an Interdipartimental Research Center for the Preservation and Enhancement of Historic Parks and Heritage Trees. The first project carried out by the Center has been the restoration of the 19th century park of Villa Revedin Bolasco in Castelfranco Veneto, where the Center is located. The garden of Villa Bolasco is a landscape style parks, where a careful balance between regeneration of the park’s “forest” and the conservation of veteran trees needed to be reached, and choices had to be made to preserve the scenography of the park through a well planned management of an ever-changing “forest” structure.
Managing changes in historic gardens and landscapes; new opportunities for research and practice
SEMENZATO, PAOLO;CATTANEO, DINA
2016
Abstract
Historic gardens and parks are important elements of the cultural landscape. Created for the pleasure and the fame of their private owners they have undergone dramatic changes in use and management practices, which often threaten their survival. Preservation laws and practices are often built around archeological, historical and architectural concepts that can be insufficient or inappropriate for a successful management of trees and vegetation within the parks. Preservation of the green architectures, woodlands and individual trees requires the management of dynamic processes, influenced by environmental and social factors. Such processes can pertain to single trees from their germination or planting to their senescence, removal and regeneration, or they can pertain to whole populations in their evolution guided by succession and competition processes. The management of historic vegetation requires specific multidisciplinary competences, based on the current knowledge in plant ecology, agronomy, arboriculture, plant pathology and entomology applied within a framework where the essential and close relationship between the living component the cultural and historic value of the architectural design is fully recognized. To contribute to the creation and diffusion of these competences the University of Padova recentely established an Interdipartimental Research Center for the Preservation and Enhancement of Historic Parks and Heritage Trees. The first project carried out by the Center has been the restoration of the 19th century park of Villa Revedin Bolasco in Castelfranco Veneto, where the Center is located. The garden of Villa Bolasco is a landscape style parks, where a careful balance between regeneration of the park’s “forest” and the conservation of veteran trees needed to be reached, and choices had to be made to preserve the scenography of the park through a well planned management of an ever-changing “forest” structure.
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