Conference and Final meeting

Brindisi, Friday April 18th 2008

At the end of the Project INFIORE “Adriatic New Neighbourhood Programme – Interreg CARDS-PHARE” all the partners met in Brindisi for a two-day workshop (April 17th and 18th 2008).

The meetings were attended by the representatives of the cities participating in the INFIORE Project, i.e.  the Municipality of Cervia (Lead Partner), the Province of Ravenna and the Municipality of Brindisi (Italy); the Municipality of Pula and the Municipality of Dubrovnik (Croatia); the Municipality of Tuzla (Bosnia-Herzegovina); the  Municipality of Shkodra and the Municipality of Elbasan (Albania); the Municipality of Pancevo (Serbia).

The final project meeting, attended by the experts from the partner cities, took place at the Park “Cesare Braico” on Thursday 17th. They discussed the experience made while carrying out the project in their cities.

The Partners could experience firsthand the work carried out by the Municipality of Brindisi in the framework of the project, in particular the rose garden created by the famous architect Renzo Ferri, former manager of parks and gardens of the EUR District in Rome, who introduced the project and talked of the different species of roses in the garden.

The official inauguration of the rose garden was attended by the local authorities: Councillors  Dattis Mauro, D’Autilia Antonio and Elmo Cosimo and the Counicillor of public green areas of the Municipality of Cervia Riccardo Todoli. The authorities welcomed the delegations and gave a press conference on the great work carried out in cooperation by the Municipalities of Cervia and Brindisi.
 
After the inauguration the delegations met in the auditorium of the Istituto Alberghiero, where they took part in a meeting chaired by Dott. Agr. Flavia Mazzoni – Manager of Public Green Areas of the City of Cervia during which the partners talked about the progress of the project financed by the Programme, the techniques they have applied and the experience they made.

In the afternoon the delegations visited the natural reserve “Torre Guaceto”, a protected marine area located north of the Municipality of Brindisi.

On Friday 18th the Main Hall of the City Hall hosted the conference “PUBLIC GREEN AREAS IN COASTAL CITIES – Strategies for the promotion of tourism”.

The opening speeches were delivered by Councillor Antonio d’Autilia and the Mayor of the Municipality of Cervia Dott. Roberto ZOFFOLI, who stressed the friendly relationship underlying the cooperation between the two cities, which started with the creation of a flowerbed in the in the Municipality of Cervia and has led to the participation in this project, in view of further fruitful cooperation.

The Conference was chaired by Prof. Vittorio MARZI, President of the Accademia dei Georgofili Sezione Sud-Est (Association of experts in agriculture).
The first speech was delivered by architect Renzo Ferri, former manager of parks and gardens of the EUR District in Rome, who talked about  the experience of some coastal cities who use urban green areas as a strategy to promote tourism.

The following speech was delivered by architect Biagio GUCCIONE, professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Florence, who talked a bout the difficulties of managing urban green areas.

After that, doctor Giovanni Nardelli and architect Tonino Bruno talked about the experience of the municipality of Brindisi in planning and creating the city parks Palmarini-Patri and Cillarese.

The last speech was delivered by Giampaolo BARBARIOL, manager of Public green Areas of the Municipality of Padua and President of the Italian Association technical managers of Public Gardens  Direttore, who dealt with the need of a stronger commitment on the part of public authorities in promoting City gardens. He then invited on the stage Councillor Antonio d’Autilia, representing the Municipal Authority, to present him with a new variety of rose called “Brindisi”. This white rose will be part of the flower decoration that will be set up for the visit of the Pope to Brindisi on June 14th and 15th.

The Councillor for Green Ares of the Municipality of Cervia Riccardo Todoli introduced the project for the creation of a web site. Councillor D’Attis close the conference stressing once more the friendship between the Municipalities of Cervia and Brindisi and highlighting the efforts made by both municipalities to improve urban green areas and make their cities more attractive for tourists.

The afternoon gave the partners the opportunity to further strengthen their friendship visiting the city together.
Thanks to the cooperation of the president of BRINDISIMULTISERVIZI S.p.A., Teodoro Contardi and of the manager of CENTRO VERDE VIVAI, Giovanni CASTRIGNANO’, the partners could visit the Aragona Castle, a plant nursery and the port of Brindisi.

The Municipality of Brindisi thanks the partners who took part in the meeting, it has been a great honour to host them.
Finally, as a symbol of the friendship between the cities of Cervia and Brindisi, following the initiative of the two Mayors Domenico Mennitti and Roberto Zoffoli, a wine called THE FRIENDSHIP WINE was bottled in the winery RISVEGLIO AGRICOLO in Brindisi and distributed by the Mayor of Cervia and the representatives of the Municipality of Brindisi to the participants in the event “Cervia Città Giardino – Maggio in fiore”, which took place in Cervia on may 24th 2008.