Municipal land granted free of charge, or at a subsidized fee, to grow new plants destined for woods, parks and reforestation interventions. It is one of the innovations contained in the legislative decree on floriculture, preliminarily approved by the Council of Ministers, implementing the 2024 enabling law. The provision aims to strengthen a supply chain that is often little talked about, but decisive for the quality of public green areas, the maintenance of the territory and interventions against environmental degradation.
The measure concerns municipally owned, agricultural or degraded land. Municipalities will be able to make them available to nursery operators, up to a maximum of one hectare, with subsidized or even free rentals. The objective is to encourage the production of certified forestry materials, i.e. plants and vegetal material traced and suitable for forestry uses. In practice: using pieces of unused public heritage to produce trees and plants to be used in renaturalization interventions, urban forestation, recovery of compromised areas and greenery maintenance.
However, it will not be a “free for all”. Preferential criteria are foreseen for the assignment of land: citizenship of the European Union, age under 40 and possession of specific qualifications in forestry sciences. A choice that also links the measure to the theme of generational turnover and professional qualification: not just free spaces, therefore, but an attempt to direct public lands towards young operators with technical skills.
The provision is part of the broader reorganization of the horticultural sector. The enabling law, Confagricoltura recalled, was created to finally give a unified framework to a supply chain that has until now been regulated by fragmented rules at European, national and regional levels. The sector is worth approximately 3.1 billion euros and represents 5% of national agricultural production; in recent years it has recorded significant growth, but the need for a more orderly strategy on production, quality, research and programming remains.
The measure will now have to complete its process, because the decree has been approved in preliminary examination. Only with the subsequent steps will the timing, operating methods and concrete margins be clarified for the Municipalities that want to put the areas up for tender.