Cervia and its surroundings / Cervia, a garden city

"Cervia, a garden city" has without a doubt become one of the most prestigious events on a European level in terms of flower and greenery displays.

The initiative, which in recent years has grown considerably in size and sees the participation of towns from all over the world, is one of the key events of a complex and varied project. This in turn is part of a general framework which should be taken into account if its full meaning is to be grasped.

In the last century, Cervia experienced intense and somewhat disruptive development when it went from being a city of salt to a town based around tourism.

If we examine the area’s landscape history, we come across a succession of planning instruments used to structure the town. These start with the layout of the late seventeenth century, which expanded beyond the fishing village until reaching the edges of Milano Marittima in the early twentieth century with Palanti’s design inspired by the “garden city”.

It then went on to embrace the entire municipal area with the first strategic plan of 1967 and its subsequent variants. The theme that recurs throughout the development of the Cervia area is the ongoing quest to attain a dimensional balance between man and the environment.

This has resulted in the fact that today it is a well-proportioned town which has grown harmoniously and still continued to offer great potential. Development of the area has respected the elements and key values of human life, placing particular attention on safeguarding nature and environmental resources: over 250 hectares of pine forest, almost 500,000 trees, 15 km of cycle paths and 14 hectares of park and garden.

Cervia is able to boast having 125 square metres of greenery per inhabitant, putting it at first place in the Emilia Romagna region, and one of the first in Italy. This is the historical and environmental background that has given rise to the excellence of the "Cervia città giardino" event. Each year Italian and foreign cities alike work on the event staged across 50 flowerbeds and public parks, with landscape architects and master gardeners expressing all their creative verve and artistry.