Parco Chico Mendes, Urban park in Campi Bisenzio, Italy

Parco Chico Mendes is a 15-hectare natural park in the San Donnino frazione of Campi Bisenzio, built on a former sand quarry and illegal landfill reclaimed from 1998. Its artificial lakes, including Laghetto Martin Pescatore and Laghetto Airone, are linked by a small channel, and paths connect most of the ponds.

The area was intensively quarried for sand in the 1980s, then became an illegal waste dump. In 1993 Tuscany's regional remediation plan listed it; work began in 1998 under Campi Bisenzio, and the park was inaugurated in September 2000 and entrusted to the Circolo Culturale Ricreativo e Sportivo San Donnino.

The park is named after Chico Mendes, the Brazilian rubber tapper and union leader murdered in 1988. Since September 2000 it has been managed by the Circolo Culturale Ricreativo e Sportivo San Donnino, the local club that runs the grounds and its events. The two main lakes are called Laghetto Martin Pescatore and Laghetto Airone, after the kingfisher and the heron seen there.

The park lies in the San Donnino frazione of Campi Bisenzio, on the right bank of the Arno within the river park. Paths link most of the artificial ponds, but some were deliberately left hard to reach as quiet zones for sensitive wildlife, so expect to walk around fenced-off water. The whole area is enclosed by a metal mesh fence and hedge.

The two main lakes, Laghetto Martin Pescatore and Laghetto Airone, are joined by a small channel that lets fish move between them. Some ponds were deliberately left hard to reach so shyer animals keep undisturbed zones, and artificial nests were installed for daytime and night-time birds of prey.