The telecommunications company is donating a forestation project to the city, and symbolically to its own people, at the Mura Magno Greche Park

Taranto, 20 December 2021 - Arbolia, a Snam and CDP Foundation benefit company active in urban forestation, and WINDTRE, Italy's number one mobile operator and one of the leading alternative operators in the landline sector, have launched a collaboration to create an urban forest of over 1,000 trees in the city of Taranto. The new green belt is located within the Mura Magno Greche Archaeological Park, an area of great historical interest near the city center.

The project, made possible by an agreement with the city of Taranto, involves planting a total of 1,061 trees of different species, some 2-2.5 meters high, including holm oak, hackberry, stone pine, plane tree, and Judas tree, and shrubs approximately 1-1.25 meters high, including strawberry tree, mastic tree, laurel tree, common ilex, and chasteberry tree. The initiative also includes the maintenance of the new urban forest for the first two years.

When fully operational, the green area will absorb up to 258 tonnes of CO₂ over 20 years and up to 2,506 kg of PM₁₀ per year. In view of the archaeological value of the area, the work is being carried out in close contact with the superintendence and in the presence of a team of archaeologists. The project will immediately become an asset for the local community and it is essential that everyone takes care of it.

WINDTRE will symbolically donate this forest to its people during the Christmas holidays.

Rossella Gangi, WINDTRE's Director of Human Resources, said: "The collaboration with Arbolia testifies to the further growth of our focus on social and environmental issues and on the fight against climate change, an approach that affects the entire company. For this reason, we have decided to symbolically donate more than 1,000 trees that will be planted in the Mura Magno Greche Park in Taranto to the people of WINDTRE, to thank them for their constant commitment in contributing to an increasingly sustainable future".

Salvatore Ricco, CEO of Arbolia, commented: "We are very happy to be able to carry out this intervention in a place that is particularly loved by the citizens of Taranto and to make a contribution to improving air quality in this wonderful city. This is the first of two Arbolia projects in Taranto and the third in the Puglia region, where we plan to carry out other initiatives over the coming months. Our mission is to create new green areas in Italian cities thanks to the support of companies sensitive to environmental sustainability such as WINDTRE, which has believed in our project from the outset".