“OREvery individual has the power to make the world a better place.” The words of the Peruvian poet-writer Sergio Bambarén are a warning for the protection of the Blue Planet. Awareness and knowledge are the foundations that make the difference in the life of every individual in the care of our Globe, also through collective appointments, such as the World Biodiversity Day, celebrated annually on 22 May.
To immerse yourself in our immense natural heritage, the FAI-Italian Environment Fund proposes “Biodiversity Walks” on 23 and 24 MaySaturday and Sunday (reservations and tickets on Fondoambiente.it) with a rich spread programme in 15 regions.
An opportunity to visit 25 FAI assets, including parks, villas, cities and gardens, in the company of experts, biologists, botanists, park rangers and beekeepers. The event, in its fourth edition, allows you to discover places often closed to the public; understand the peculiarities of biodiversity, spend pleasant days in the open air and… tone your legs and calves, depending on the length of the chosen routes. From the Foundation’s rich “basket”, here are five different destinations, from north to south, to learn how to protect our natural habitat because, as Andy Warhol stated, “I believe that having the Earth and not ruining it is the most beautiful form of art you could wish for”. How to disagree.
1/ Liguria: Villa Rezzola
An ancient stately home dating back to the eighteenth century, a lush terraced park and a superb view of the Gulf of Poets. It is the portrait of Villa Rezzola, a couple of kilometers from Lerici. For the first time this year, the estate joins FaiBiodiversità to make people understand the central role of water in the environmental ecosystem: it is the primary resource for the life of the garden, almost four hectares, reopened last year after a long restoration.
The garden of Villa Rezzola, historic residence on the Gulf of Poets, near Lerici. Photo C Marco Miglio Garden Photography Project 2025
Through a complex collection system dating back to the early twentieth century, it is collected, preserved, regenerated and also used for decorative purposes, for fountains, waterfalls, canals and lakes. It is the “sonic” setting of the guided walk among palm trees, cypresses, camphors, flower gardens and many Mediterranean and foreign botanical varieties. The visit ends in the historic greenhouse with a honey tasting, a way to reflect on the importance of pollinators and their fundamental role in biodiversity. Visits: 23-24 May, 11am, 2pm and 4pm.
2/ Sardinia: Saline Conti Vecchi
A dozen kilometers from Cagliari, a spectacular world of biodiversity stretches across 2,700 hectares, made up of water, earth and salt. It is the setting of the Saline Conti Vecchi, created at the end of the 1920s by the engineer Luigi Conti Vecchi, in the Santa Gilla Lagoon.
Pink flamingos are the exclusive inhabitants of the Saline Conti Vecchi of Cagliari. Photo Alberto Masala 2024 FAI
The salt pans (the second largest in Italy and still active) can be admired during a walk of about three kilometers on a dirt path, part of the longest pedestrian route Cammino di Sant’Efisio (about 80 kilometres), which can be covered in five stages from Cagliari to Nora. During the walk in the salt pans, framed by a dreamlike scenario made up of multicolored evaporation tanksfrom the glittering piles of salt and the flight of pink flamingos, the unique value of the wetland ecosystem is explained, an ideal habitat for many species of fauna and flora. At the end of the tour, you visit the historic buildings of the Saline, such as the management, the archive and the mechanical workshop. The rooms dating back to the 1930s, renovated and refurnished, are an important example of industrial archeology and offer an insight into the social life of that period. Visit: Sunday 24 May, 10am.
3/ Basilicata: The Sassi of Matera
History, architecture and nature are the cornerstone of the easy urban trekking among the Sassi of the Lucanian city. To understand the urban ecosystem of Matera (a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1993) and the relative balance between man and biodiversity, we start from Casa Noha, one of the most significant examples of private architecture in the Sassi.
Matera dominated by the Cathedral of the Madonna della Bruna and Sant’Eustachio. In the Sassi it is possible to do urban trekking. Photo arenaimmagini.it 2014 (C) FAI – Italian Environment Fund
The ancient noble residence has been converted into a multimedia museum space, an essential step for an initial historical-ethnographic knowledge of the extraordinary tuff location. The visit to the city, accompanied by the guide Raffaele Lamacchia and the botanist Giuseppe Gambetta, crosses the Barisano and Caveoso districts. During the walk (which lasts two hours), the correlation between the presence of man and the local botanical species emerges, such as mallow, red valerian, ferula, caper, and we investigate how these varieties have adapted to the characteristics of the limestone rock, and their importance in biodiversity in an urban-rock context. Visit: Sunday 24 May, 11.15am.
4/ Abruzzo: Bosco Carmela Contini
A jewel hidden in a large natural treasure chest. It is the “Carmela Cortini” forest in Valzo di Valle Castellana, 32 hectares within the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga National Park. Donated to the FAI in 2021 by professor Franco Pedrotti, in memory of his wife Carmela, it is a coppice forest made up of downy oaks (a type of oak), hornbeams, chestnuts, but also brooms and junipers.
The Carmela Cortini Forest in Valzo di Valle Castellana (Teramo). Photo Antonio Straccini 2020 (C) FAI
Stretching on the slopes of Monte Capitone between 800 and 1,100 meters above sea level, it is a wonder to discover during the walk in the company of the botanist Nicola Olivieri and Renato Di Pasquantonio, an inhabitant of the area and a profound connoisseur of the territory. The five kilometer route (lasting 2 and a half hours) allows you to immerse yourself in an intact habitat, learning the environmental characteristics of a tall forest. The excursion, starting in the morning from the village of Olmeto (province of Teramo), also leads to the Fosso Valle dell’Acero valley and to the tasting of honey produced by the hives installed in the Carmela Forest. Visit: Saturday 23 May, 9am.
5/ Piedmont: Villa Flecchia
About ten kilometers from the enchanting lake of Viverone, you enter art, nature and the world of bees. It happens at Villa Flecchia, present at the Biodiversity Days for the first time.
The paintings of Villa Flecchia almost seem to seek a dialogue with nature. Enrico Collection at Villa Flecchia, Magnano (BI), Photo Maria Burro 2021 (C) FAI – Italian Environment Fund
Built in the sixties by the architect Piero Enrico, it is reflected in the mountainous profile of the Serra Morenica of Ivrea, whose scenarios are the protagonists of around sixty paintings from the “Enrico Collection”, born from the passion of the former owner of the house (the residence was donated to the FAI in 2011) for the Piedmontese figurative artists of the late nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries.
The works, scattered throughout the rooms of the villa, offer the gaze a landscape continuity between inside and outside, a constant dialogue with the surrounding nature. During the walk, you discover the honey essences of the garden – the main nourishment of bees and insects -, you observe a hive up close and you learn about the social organization of bees. The walk ends with a honey tasting from the Apicoltura Le Querce family farm. But there’s more. Before the visit, from 12 pm, the residence makes its garden available for picnics and the bowling green. Visits: Sunday 24 May, 2.30 pm and 3.15 pm.
