Official launch of the tree-planting programme to renew Turin’s tree-lined avenues. The initiative brings together a range of partners and will involve the phased planting of new trees through to 2030, alongside the introduction of a scientific monitoring system to evaluate their impact on public health, air quality and the city’s resilience to climate change.
On the morning of 22nd June, the “Turin Grows Green and Healthy” project was officially launched as a partnership between the City of Turin, through its Green Spaces, Parks and Animal Welfare Division, the City of Turin Health Authority (ASL Città di Torino) and Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo. Its aim is to restore and enhance the city’s historic tree-lined avenues through a programme of regeneration covering more than 300 kilometres of tree-lined avenues, part of an urban tree heritage comprising over 60,000 trees that is one of the defining features of Turin’s cityscape.
The symbolic tree-planting ceremony held this morning was attended by Mayor Stefano Lo Russo, Director-General of the Turin Health Authority Carlo Picco, City Councillor for Green Spaces Francesco Tresso, Chair of Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo Marco Gilli and Secretary General Alberto Anfossi.
In outlining the vision behind the Foundation’s commitment to the initiative, Chair Marco Gilli emphasised the project’s significance as a tangible investment in the local area and its communities: “This is one of the development projects that the Foundation has chosen to support directly and with a long-term vision. Restoring a living tree heritage to the city, in partnership with the Turin Local Health Authority (ASL Città di Torino) to assess its benefits for people’s health and quality of life, is a tangible expression of our commitment to the common good and to the generations who will inherit this city.This is the deeper purpose that underpins our philanthropic work.”
Alberto Anfossi, Secretary General of Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, concluded the reflection on the value and prospects of the project: “We have chosen to support the Tree-Lined Avenues project as one of the flagship initiatives within our Multi-Year Planning Document because it combines the enhancement of a heritage that is deeply valued by the people of Turin: our tree-lined avenues, with improvements to air quality and the urban environment, including in the context of climate change adaptation. Its added value lies in a cutting-edge preventive maintenance programme designed to ensure the long-term sustainability of the tree-planting initiative.”
“Turin Grows Green and Healthy” is a structured initiative that will see the planting of around 2,800 new trees by 2030 across more than 50 of the city’s avenues. Supported by Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, the project forms part of a broader regeneration strategy that brings together green space management, public health and climate adaptation.
The initiative goes beyond the simple renewal of the city’s tree heritage, representing a strategic investment in urban quality of life and the City’s environmental resilience.
The project is included among the Development Projects identified in the 2025-2028 Multiannual Planning Document of Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo as a “Speed 2” intervention: high-impact action through which the Foundation promotes and supports local transformation processes expected to achieve lasting benefits for communities.
Within this framework, the Tree-Lined Avenues project reflects the Foundation’s wider commitment to strengthening the connection between health, research and environmental quality as essential elements of collective well-being. This approach is reflected both in the Foundation’s support for cutting-edge health research and the development of new IRCCS centres in Piedmont, and in initiatives such as this one, where care for the urban environment is combined with scientific tools that measure its impact on the health of individuals and communities.
The project is supported by a monitoring system that will allow the effects of the new trees on urban environmental quality to be assessed over time, with a particular focus on reductions in particulate matter, noise pollution and urban heat islands.
At the heart of the initiative is an integrated vision of health and the environment, recognising tree-lined avenues not only as a defining element of the urban landscape, but also as genuine green infrastructure that improves people’s well-being and strengthens the city’s resilience. Environmental and health data will therefore be analysed together to objectively measure the benefits generated by urban greenery.
With total funding of around €2.5 million, Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo is helping to support Turin’s transition towards a more resilient and sustainable urban model centred on people’s quality of life.
For further information on the project and its development, please refer to the full press release.
