The Vettabbia Agroforestry Project

Parco della Vettabbia, Vaiano Valle, southern Milan, Lombardia

 

The Vettabbia Agroforestry Project is one of Italy's most ambitious urban regeneration efforts. Forty hectares of abandoned farmland between the Corvetto and Porto di Mare neighbourhoods are being transformed into a working agroforestry park of native broadleaves, fruit trees, and community-supported cereal fields. The work is led on the ground by Soulfood Forestfarms Hub Italia, a Milan-based non-profit social enterprise, in partnership with the agricultural cooperative CasciNet and the Italian benefit corporation zeroCO2. Every tree is planted on public land held under a 30-year concession from the Comune di Milano, in a park you can walk into.

 

Plant trees in Italy through Evertreen and help bring this farmland back to life.

 

 

At a Glance

 

Project: Vettabbia Agroforestry, Parco della Vettabbia, Milan

Location: Vaiano Valle, southern Milan, Lombardia, Italy

Project area: 40 hectares of abandoned farmland under transformation by 2030

Active implementation to date: 2 hectares of agroforestry systems, 12,000+ trees planted

Operator: Soulfood Forestfarms Hub Italia, non-profit social enterprise

Host farm: CasciNet azienda agricola (10-hectare holding within the park)

Platform partner: zeroCO2 Società Benefit, B Corp certified

Research partner: Università degli Studi di Milano, ecosystem services validation

Native species in the planting mix: 8 (Field Maple, Black Alder, Pedunculate Oak, Bird Cherry, Hawthorn, Hazel, Purple Willow, Black Elder)

Carbon currently sequestered on site: 52 t CO₂ eq/year, reported by Soulfood for the active planted area

Land tenure: 30-year municipal concession (Comune di Milano)

 

 

Why This Land Matters

Just south of Milan's Corvetto neighbourhood, where the city's tower blocks give way to fields and irrigation canals, a forty-hectare stretch of abandoned farmland is becoming one of the most ambitious urban regeneration projects in Italy. The Parco della Vettabbia takes its name from the medieval canal that runs through it, dug by Cistercian monks of Chiaravalle Abbey in the twelfth century to drain and farm the wetlands south of Milan. Eight hundred years later, the canal still runs. The farmland it serves is being brought back to life, this time as an agroforestry park.

 

Italy is the most biodiverse country in Europe, and forests cover roughly 40 percent of its territory. Most of that growth has come from the abandonment of rural land over the past 80 years, with forest area expanding by 75 percent since the 1940s. The country's challenge today is not how to plant more trees in remote areas. It is how to keep trees, soil, and farming together on the urban edge, where climate stress is concentrated and where most Italians actually live. Soil on Milan's periurban plots is typically compacted and depleted. Traffic and industrial dust press in. A forest a hundred kilometres away does not solve any of that.

 

The Vettabbia answer is to put trees back into agriculture, not separate from it. The project rebuilds soil fertility, creates wildlife corridors that link Milan's residual green spaces to the wider Parco Agricolo Sud Milano, lowers local temperatures, and gives a periurban neighbourhood a usable green space. Eight native species were chosen specifically for the habitat structure they build together. Pedunculate Oak (Quercus robur) and Field Maple (Acer campestre) form the long-lived canopy. Black Alder (Alnus glutinosa) and Purple Willow (Salix purpurea) hold the wetter ground along the canals. Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), Black Elder (Sambucus nigra), Hazel (Corylus avellana), and Bird Cherry (Prunus padus) build the understorey.

 

 

 

What the Project Does

When you plant trees in Italy through Evertreen, your contribution supports three areas of work:

Agroforestry planting and on-site stewardship across 40 hectares
Soulfood Forestfarms has 12,000+ trees in the ground at the Vettabbia so far, across 2 hectares of fully implemented agroforestry systems within CasciNet's 10-hectare host farm. One hectare is built around 650 fruit trees of 8 species and 30 varieties, supported by around 2,000 native forest trees and shrubs. A second hectare is designed for soil phytoremediation, drawing heavy metals out of the urban-edge soil through fast-growing biomass that is then composted and used as heating fuel for the host farmhouse. Planting is scaling toward the 40-hectare transformation target by 2030. Soulfood's field team handles planting, formative pruning, summer watering, and inter-row maintenance. Up to 10 percent of trees that fail in the first year are replaced at no extra cost.

 

A Community-Supported Agriculture programme and public green space
The Vettabbia is a public park, not a closed restoration site. The work is structured around a CSA programme (Comunità che Supporta l'Agricoltura), in which local residents share the harvest and the costs of running the farm. Over three years, Soulfood has involved more than 1,000 volunteers in planting and soil preparation, and hosted 15 primary and secondary school classes on site through the Scuola ForestaMi programme. The agroforestry rows also work as a physical noise and dust barrier between the city and the farmland, with multilayered vegetation screens documented to reduce traffic noise by 3 to 8 decibels.

 

Training Italian farmers in regenerative practice
Soulfood operates as a transition hub: its field team trains other local farmers in regenerative agroforestry techniques and runs residential workshops in partnership with the Università degli Studi di Milano, which acts as the project's scientific partner for measuring ecosystem services. zeroCO2 connects the Vettabbia to a wider Italian network of 50+ partner cooperatives that employ people in vulnerable circumstances and bring abandoned land back into productive use. The Vettabbia is the flagship model that this wider network is built around.

 

 

Real Numbers from the Site

At the Vettabbia site to date, the project has delivered:

12,000+ native trees already in the ground
2 ha of fully implemented agroforestry systems within CasciNet's 10-hectare farm
52 t CO₂ eq/year sequestered by the active planted area today, scaling as the trees mature
1,000+ volunteers involved in planting and soil preparation over three years
15 primary and secondary school classes hosted through the Scuola ForestaMi programme
8 native species in the planting mix, plus 30 varieties of fruit trees

Beyond the numbers: Soulfood has run two residential research workshops on site with the Università degli Studi di Milano, which validates the project's ecosystem services through ongoing academic research. The neighbouring Davide Longoni farm is converting six adjacent hectares to alley-cropping cereals under the same agroforestry model, in partnership with Soulfood and MadreProject, extending the regenerative footprint across the park. Major Italian corporates including KRUK Italia and Helvetia have already committed to the Vettabbia transformation, with planting on site since 2021.

 

 

Native Species and the Habitat They Build

The Vettabbia is a working piece of agroforestry that rebuilds soil, creates habitat corridors, and reconnects a city to the agricultural land it grew up around. Italy is the most biodiverse country in Europe, and the Lombardy plain around Milan has been farmed continuously for centuries. The eight native species at the Vettabbia were chosen to support this working landscape and to extend the biological connections between Milan's green spaces and the wider Parco Agricolo Sud Milano.

 

The eight species each have a specific job in the system. The Pedunculate Oak (Quercus robur) and Field Maple (Acer campestre) form the long-lived canopy and will store the most carbon over the project's life. The Black Alder (Alnus glutinosa) fixes nitrogen and stabilises the wetter ground along the canals. The Purple Willow (Salix purpurea) handles flood-prone edges. Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) and Black Elder (Sambucus nigra) build the dense understorey that small mammals and songbirds depend on. Hazel (Corylus avellana) and Bird Cherry (Prunus padus) sit between the productive fruit trees and the forest canopy, supporting pollinators and giving roosting cover.

 

The Vettabbia site sits inside the Parco Agricolo Sud Milano, a 47,000-hectare belt of protected agricultural land that wraps around Milan and connects the city to the Po Valley wetlands. The agroforestry plots act as biological stepping stones in that wider corridor. They sit close to the urban edge but read, ecologically, as part of the broader rural landscape. As the trees mature, the site will support pollinators, songbirds, small mammals, and a diverse soil invertebrate community, with ecosystem services measured and published by the Università degli Studi di Milano research partnership.

 

 

About Carbon at the Vettabbia

The Vettabbia is an urban agroforestry project, which is a different kind of climate work from tropical forest preservation. Trees on this kind of site deliver soil regeneration on degraded urban-edge land, biodiversity corridors that reach into a city of 1.3 million people, climate adaptation for Italian agriculture, and a public green space the surrounding neighbourhood actively uses, alongside carbon sequestration. Soulfood's own reporting shows the planted area is already sequestering 52 tons of CO₂ equivalent per year across 12,000+ trees, with that rate scaling as the trees mature.

zeroCO2 calculates per-tree carbon as a prudent ex-ante estimate of how much CO₂ a tree will absorb in its first 15 years of life, as set out in the zeroCO2 platform terms of service. For native Italian broadleaves planted in this kind of mixed agroforestry system, the published industry range is 0.30 to 0.75 tons per tree over the 15-year horizon, with Rete Clima reporting 20 to 50 kg of CO₂ sequestered per year for mature broadleaves. The exact figure for the Vettabbia tree model will be confirmed by zeroCO2 and published in the buyer-facing certificate.

 

 

How the Project Is Documented

Every step of the work is documented through a chain of named partners you can see and verify.

 

Soulfood Forestfarms Hub Italia is the on-the-ground operator. As a registered Italian non-profit social enterprise (Impresa Sociale s.r.l., with a companion Associazione di Promozione Sociale for cultural and educational projects), it publishes detailed project data directly on its own platform and files annual reports under Italian non-profit law. The Università degli Studi di Milano measures ecosystem services through ongoing academic research, with two residential laboratories already completed on site and a continuing programme of scientific validation. The Comune di Milano, which assigned the land under a 30-year municipal concession originally tendered in 2016, holds the project to its agricultural-identity obligations.

 

zeroCO2, the platform partner, tracks every tree through its web app, pairing satellite imagery with on-site photography from professional reporters. Buyers see their trees on a map, receive periodic updates, and can visit the site in person. zeroCO2 is a certified B Corp and a B Corp "Best for the World" honoree. Up to 10 percent of trees that fail in the first year are replaced by zeroCO2 under the standard contract. The Vettabbia has been covered in independent Italian press including Vita.it, Mitomorrow, and Insurzine, and is featured in corporate partner case studies from KRUK Italia and Helvetia, both of whom have planted trees on site since 2021.

 

The site is publicly visitable. Soulfood runs workshops, school visits, and corporate volunteer days year-round. If you want to walk the rows where your trees are planted, you can.

 

Every hectare regenerated puts working farmland back into Milan's southern edge. The trees grow. The soil rebuilds. The neighbourhood gets a green space it can use. Help keep this work going.

 

Plant trees in Italy through Evertreen.

 

 

 

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I plant trees in Italy through Evertreen?

Yes. Evertreen offers tree adoption in Italy through the Vettabbia urban agroforestry project on the southern edge of Milan. Your contribution supports a 40-hectare regeneration of abandoned farmland, with 12,000+ native trees already in the ground, 8 native species in the planting mix, and a 30-year municipal land concession backing the work. The local operator is Soulfood Forestfarms Hub Italia, a Milan-based non-profit social enterprise.

 

How is this project documented?

Every step of the work is documented through a chain of named partners. Soulfood Forestfarms publishes detailed project data directly. The Università degli Studi di Milano measures ecosystem services through ongoing academic research. The Comune di Milano holds the 30-year land concession. zeroCO2, a B Corp certified benefit corporation and the platform partner, tracks every tree via satellite imagery combined with on-site reporter photography, and replaces up to 10 percent of first-year losses. The site is open to public visits year-round.

 

Can I gift trees from this project?

Yes. Gift certificates are available for the Italy tree page, and recipients can claim their trees through a unique redemption code. See gift options here. Gift recipients can track their trees on the zeroCO2 platform along with the rest of the Vettabbia site.

 

How much CO₂ does my tree absorb?

Each tree at the Vettabbia is calculated using zeroCO2's published methodology of prudent ex-ante estimation over the first 15 years of tree life. The exact figure for the Vettabbia tree model is published in the buyer-facing certificate. Industry-typical figures for native Italian broadleaves in this kind of mixed agroforestry system range from 0.30 to 0.75 tons per tree over 15 years. The Vettabbia delivers soil regeneration, urban biodiversity, climate adaptation, and community access alongside carbon sequestration, with 52 tons of CO₂ equivalent per year already being sequestered across the planted area.

 

Can I visit the project?

Yes. The site sits inside the Parco della Vettabbia, a public agricultural park on Milan's southern edge between the Corvetto and Porto di Mare neighbourhoods, easily reached on Milan public transport. Soulfood Forestfarms runs volunteer days, school visits, and workshops year-round. Reach Soulfood at italy@soulfoodforestfarms.it, or coordinate a visit through your Evertreen account.

 

Have more questions about how Evertreen works? Visit our FAQ.

 

 

Reviewed by Evertreen. Last updated: May 2026.