ZEGNA is delighted to announce that the flowerbeds in Piazza Duomo have been officially handed over to the City of Milan. The 3-year project in collaboration with the local administration aims to create a green space inspired by the philosophy of environmental responsibility embraced by Oasi Zegna, a nature reserve covering 100 km2 in the Biella Alps, in Piemonte. At the beginning of the last century, Ermenegildo Zegna embarked on a vast reforestation program in the montane area around his wool mill and for the first time connected the two sides of the mountain by building a road, the Strada 232. The reforestation and local community development project that created Oasi Zegna now has over 500,000 trees and promotes cohesion and harmony between people, enterprises and nature. The founder’s vision has been nurtured by successive generations who continue to preserve Oasi Zegna as a unique model of social and environmental responsibility.
As an emblem of the entire City of Milan and indeed the whole of Italy, Piazza Duomo provides a unique opportunity to create a space meeting all its monumental, symbolic and aesthetic needs whilst promoting higher connectivity between citizens and nature. Inspired by a 1957 painting by Dino Buzzati, "Piazza del Duomo di Milano", which represents a stimulating dialogue between town and country, the project for the new flowerbeds is designed to highlight nature’s crucial role by focusing on current sustainability issues.
ZEGNA engaged a team of botanical and landscape experts to bring to Milan certain plants typical of Oasi Zegna’s flora and also compatible with the local ecosystem. The flowerbeds will have a permanent layout based on four stands of differently aged camphor bushes, luxuriant evergreens that will be the mature plants in this optimized ecosystem. Rotating in amongst these shrubberies will be a number of other species typical of Oasi Zegna, including rhododendrons from autumn to late spring and Philadelphus from the end of the rhododendron blossoming to ensure biodiversity and seasonal turnover. These two species will be replanted in Oasi Zegna at the end of their cycle. A QR code will be placed by the flowerbeds enabling the public to see live footage of one of the territories that ZEGNA is reforesting, thus offering them a unique experience of connection with nature.Special thanks go the Municipality of Milan and its mayor Giuseppe Sala for understanding the essence of this project and believing so firmly in ZEGNA’s mission.
