LANDSCAPING FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RECOVERY. A STUDY CASE IN FLORENCE

Recently, the environmental situation of abandoned sand and gravel quarries situated in fluvial Florentine area has become dramatic: aquifer has been uncovered, thus forming an enormus amount of "quarry lakes" scattered in an extremely chaotic way alongside the river Arno.
Just in the middle of the metropolitan area, the landscape of more or less 1000 ha overlay abandoned agricultural areas, factory sheds, open sewers, some metropolitan equipment (as a large and dangerous refuse incinerator), and so on.

Year after year, the town development process has made worse the situation and the environment has run the risk of collapse: the old incinerator has been closed, due to its emission of gaseous pollution, but on the other hand a number of uncontrolled and unauthorised refuse dumps of both Solid Urban Refuse (R.S.U.) and liquids of industrial origin, among which also some certainly of toxic and harmful nature.
The state of abandon of this area has determined its desertion by the local population and the defence against abuse has become impossible: solid and liquid refuse has been put directly into aquifers.

International Workshop on Floriculture & Nursery Industries and Environment

G. Ferrara

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1994.353.8