Parco dei Melograni (Pomegranate Park) was created through the participatory process “Let’s Build Community Spaces Together,” launched in 2022. The initiative brought together local residents, institutions, and nonprofit organizations to design these spaces. Today, it is a new shared community asset: a large area overlooking the Ceno River—a place that is communal, natural, and inclusive.

The park is organized into three main thematic areas:
Education & Nature – where nature becomes a tool for learning, a source of well-being, and a space for leisure for all ages and abilities;
Music & Theater – a natural setting for artistic and musical events;
Outdoor Sports – recreational and competitive sports that foster inclusion, active aging, and community building.

Parco dei Melograni is the result of a shared journey, built step by step with the community. Through workshops, labs, and moments of dialogue, residents, nonprofit organizations, and local stakeholders envisioned a place where nature, sports, culture, and relationships come together.

The process did not begin with a design, but with a collective need: to create a space that is accessible, inclusive, and alive. Only after defining its functions together did the physical development begin. Today, the park reflects that vision: a shared space where biodiversity meets play, and where connection is woven into the landscape. A place that will continue to grow through the energy of those who experience it.

The connection between Varano de’ Melegari and pomegranates blends legend and documented history. According to legend, pomegranates were brought to the Val Ceno by Ama-ar during Hannibal’s campaign (218 BC). Historical records from the 17th to 19th centuries refer to the area as “Varan de’ Melagri” or “Varano de’ Melagrani,” linking the name to the presence of these trees, which still dot the town and its surroundings. Another account suggests that the first pomegranate plant arrived in Varano through a monk and was later cultivated in the garden of a local noble family, who regarded it as a symbol of fertility and good fortune.

The park enriches this tradition with the only existing collection of descendants of Italy’s monumental pomegranate trees. Cuttings from the country’s most significant specimens have been propagated and can now be admired here—an open-air museum of biodiversity.

If you would like to propose community or creative activities, performances, events, or presentations, get in touch:

sede.parco@fondazionecaterinadallara.org
378 0648994