The Guardian Trees

wetree perugia 6
Andrea Romizi, current Mayor of Perugia, was among the first signatories of the weTree pact.

 

The Project includes:

  • The recovery of the entire green area in front of the Temple Sant’Angelo with the planting of 5 tall cypresses and their maintenance for 5 years. This gift from the weTree Association to the city of Perugia is dedicated to Vincenza Losito Baldasserini, a woman who showed an extraordinary civil commitment to her community.
  • An award to Vivi il Borgo Association, which has always been committed to the conservation of greenery and the embellishment of its district, which includes the Temple of Sant’Angelo and the monumental complex of San Matteo degli Armeni, where this neighborhood association takes care of the Orto Urbano.
  • A reward to the winner of the “Competition for Landscape Requalification” of the Botanical Garden of Perugia in collaboration with the University of Perugia – CAMS Science Museums Center.
  • The donation of fruit trees to the Urban Garden in the Complex of San Matteo degli Armeni, cared by Live Vivi il Borgo Association, by the women’s associations AIDDA (Italian Association of Women Entrepreneurs) delegation Umbria, FIDAPA (Italian Federation of Business and Professional Women) section of Perugia, GARDEN CLUB Perugia, INNER WHEEL CLUB Perugia, and SOROPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL CLUB Perugia. The ARBOREAL ARCHAEOLOGY FOUNDATION, and A YOUNG MARRIED COUPLE who wanted to join weTree Perugia as private citizens, have also donated other fruit tree specimens.

Dedicated to

  • wetree Vincenza Losito Baldasserini
  • With her great social commitment, especially to childhood, Vincenza Losito Baldasserini impressed the history of the city of Perugia. Born in Livorno, she lived and formed in various locations of the country following the transfers of her father, an employee of the State Railways. Having found her vocation to medicine from an early age, she devoted herself to the profession with competence and dedication throughout her life. Pediatrician, factory doctor, honorary juvenile judge, president of the Montessori section of Perugia, president od the Regional Committee Unicef of Umbria for 20 years, vice-president of the Italian Multiple Sclerosis Association, she promoted vaccination campaigns for children. Having served her community for her whole life, in 2004 she was awarded the prestigious Citizens Hall of Fame. She died in 2016.

Project locations:

The church of San Michele Arcangelo, called Temple of Sant’Angelo, is the oldest early Christian church in the city and also a perfect example of Romanesque architecture. Over the years, some of the cypressus embracing the temple have fallen down, breaking the harmony of an extraordinary place. Thanks to the intervention of weTree Perugia, this wonderful landscape, so dear to citizens of Perugia, will regain its former splendour.   Located halfway between San Michele Arcangelo, the the oldest church in the city (5th-6th century) and the Franciscan convent of Monteripido (late 13th century), San Matteo degli Armeni is one of the oldest monumental complexes of Perugia (about 1270). It consists of the church built by Basilian monks (now entrusted to the Russian Orthodox community) and the adjoining convent, in a green area of almost 5000 square meters in the district of Porta Sant’Angelo, north of the city and close to the medieval gate of Cassero. Over the century the monastery has changed several times: once a place of prayer, it became a lazaretto, then a deposit for the Oddi family art collection, and finally a private mansion. Seriously damaged by the earthquake of 1997, it was then abandoned. The recovery of the building led to the opening of a new public library (as part of a European project) in July 2012, specialised on social issues such as peace and human rights, intercultural and interreligious dialogue. It includes the libraries of Aldo Capitini, Amnesty International and a section of Arpa Umbria. The green area, recovered since 2012, is divided into three areas: Giardino dei Giusti, Giardino della Compresenza, Orti Urbani, 800 square metres of which are covered by gardens entrusted to the neighborhood association Vivi il Borgo. The project of these gardens is the result of a teamwork that involved professionals in the sector. They designed a community vegetable garden that combines the tradition of the complex with its historical, urban and social vocation.   Built from 1966 to provide educational support to students of botany of the various degree courses, the Orto Botanico di San Costanzo is the fifth botanical garden in the history of the University of Perugia. Its collections are arranged mostly according to phylogenetic criteria. The building hosts also collections adapted to particular environment. In the botanical garden and in the medieval one about 1200 taxa coming from Umbrian and other Italian regions’ flora are preserved, together with numerous exotic entities of systematic or economic interest.

In collaboration with:

CAMS - Science Museums Center

Under the Patronage of:

Promoter Committee:

Nives Tei Coaccioli, President FAI Umbria
Cristina Colaiacovo, President Cassa di Risparmio di Perugia Foundation
Caterina Grechi, President Centro per le pari opportunità Regione Umbria (Centre for Equal Opportunities Umbria Region
Isabella Dalla Ragione, President Archeologia Arborea Foundation
Vittoria Ferdinandi, nominated Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic by President Mattarella for her initiative “Numero Zero” dedicated to psychic distress