Parco Eternot, Public garden in Casale Monferrato, Italy.
Parco Eternot is a 29,000-square-metre public garden in the Ronzone district of Casale Monferrato, laid out on the site of the former Eternit asbestos-cement factory. It has about 4,500 square metres of walking paths, a 920-square-metre children's play area, a multi-path space for older children, picnic areas, benches, drinking fountains and a 20-metre-diameter arena for events. Two factory remains are visible: the Eternit office building, under restoration, and the well that supplied the plant with water.
The Eternit plant, founded in 1906 by engineer Adolfo Pietro Mazza in the Ronzone district, produced asbestos-cement here until its bankruptcy in 1986. The municipality bought the abandoned site in 1995; remediation ran from 2000 to 2016, with debris sealed in concrete tanks beneath the park. The ribbon was cut on 10 September 2016.
The park's name comes from the Eternit company, whose asbestos-cement works stood here from 1906 to 1986. Casale Monferrato's collective response to asbestos-related disease became the first case in which psychologists applied the term resilience. Two remnants of the plant remain: the Eternit office building, under restoration, and the well that supplied the factory with water.
The park lies in the Ronzone district on the site of the former Eternit plant, with a cycle path linking it to Casale Monferrato's centre on one side and to mountain-bike routes on the other. Inside, about 4,500 square metres of avenues connect the 920-square-metre children's play area, a multi-route space for older children, benches, drinking fountains, picnic areas and a 20-metre-diameter arena. Two remnants of the factory remain visible: the Eternit office building, under restoration, and the well that supplied the plant with water.
The park is the only urban park in the world built on the site of an asbestos-cement factory, and Italy's only completed demolition and remediation of such a large plant. The word resilience in psychology was first applied to the Casale Monferrato case. Two factory remnants remain: the Eternit office building, under restoration, and the well that supplied the plant with water.
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