The Ginkgo Biloba of Gorgonzola

The historic Sola Cabiati Park is a fundamental green lung in the center of Gorgonzola, a town famous for having given birth and name to the famous blue cheese, but also for its ancient history certified by its citation both in Manzoni's The Betrothed and Parini's day.

The garden turns out to be a real oasis in an area, such as that to the east of Milan, where the landscape, crossed by the Martesana, is characterized by intensive agricultural areas interspersed with urbanized and industrialized areas. In the pleasant green space, well equipped and also home to a pond, the most striking tree is undoubtedly a Ginkgo biloba.

The specimen is among the largest in Lombardy, with a trunk circumference of more than 4 meters (diameter 130 cm) and a height of 30 meters. It belongs to a truly extraordinary ornamental species, not only for the splendid autumn color of the foliage. Ginkgo biloba is considered an ancient living fossil, being the only surviving species of the entire Ginkgoales order. It is also a species with medicinal properties and sacred in the Far East, as well as a symbol of the city of Tokyo. It took on even more symbolic importance after the atomic bombings in Japan: in Hiroshima six specimens survived nuclear radiation, becoming a symbol of rebirth. The Ginkgo is truly a tree full of charm; even the poet Goethe was so impressed by him that he dedicated a poem to him.

Green monument that can be freely visited during park opening hours.

(Ph: Luca Pernechele)