Terzo Giardino

"A large green labyrinth on the river bank. The Terzo Giardino has now become an integral part of the Florentine skyline, with its 10 thousand square meters returned to the city thanks to a public art project. The left bank of the river under Lungarno Serristori is transformed into the Terzo Giardino again this year, thanks to the artistic redevelopment carried out by the Studio ++ collective, a work attentive to natural conservation and the enhancement of biodiversity that is part of the Estate Fiorentina 2018 program. The goal is to recover a space just outside monumental Florence, making it fully usable from marginal. The initiative takes shape within the Progetto Riva, the multidisciplinary platform that brings together artists, architects, performers, cultural operators and institutions in a common research site around the Arno river, promoted by Le Murate Progetti Arte Contemporanea, MUS.E, the Municipality of Florence, the Tuscany Region, Consorzio di Bonifica 3 Medio Valdarno, with the artistic direction of Valentina Gensini. The project by Studio ++, an artist collective composed of Fabio Ciaravella, Umberto Daina and Vincenzo Fiore, is based on targeted cuts of the spontaneous vegetation that grows near the Arno, using the techniques used to maintain the banks. Two different actions create different areas: geometric “parterres” divided into four transversal sections and actual walls of spontaneous vegetation. The result is a design inspired by the tradition of the Italian Garden, with particular attention to the model of the Giardini dei Semplici. The vegetation that emerges is made up of spontaneous plants on the river bank, which, thanks to this method of “subtraction”, manifest themselves in all their unexpected biodiversity. The adjective “third” recalls the metaphor of the landscape architect Gilles Clèment who explains how the abandoned vegetation present in the “residues of the rational organization of man” is an important reserve of biodiversity and evolutionary potential. The Consorzio di bonifica 3 Medio Valdarno contributes to the project as a technical-operational body which, in collaboration with the Civil Engineering Department of the Tuscany Region, is responsible for ordinary maintenance on the banks and banks of the Arno. In this specific case, the mowing of the vegetation is carried out by the Consortium's operators with increased frequency and in a manner that still allows inspection and surveillance for hydraulic safety purposes but at the same time contributes to making that natural bank of vegetated river sediments a true work of art."

"Located near the San Niccolo area. A fairly new public park with seasonal art installations."