Parco Talon
The Parco della Chiusa or Talon Park is a large green area of about 110 hectares in the city of Casalecchio di Reno.
Not far from Bologna, the park is now the scene of various events and is much popular with nature and sports lovers, given the many paths that cross it. For example the Bregoli path starts right at the entrance to the park, near the Church of San Martino. Between uphill stretches and glimpses of the landscape, this path leads to the Sanctuary of San Luca.
What to see in Parco della Chiusa
What we now call Talon Park was once the property of several noble families belonging to the Bolognese senate, including the
Talon and Sampieri families. The ruined villa still visible near the entrance to the park is a living testimony to this.
Dating back to the 18th century, Villa Sampieri Talon was a large building designed to host the
festivities and holidays of the Bolognese family of the same name. There are many period postcards showing its original splendour, now lost due to damage suffered during the
bombing of World War II. In fact, the villa once had a fountain in front of the façade and even a greenhouse.
Another great protagonist of the Sampieri Talon estates was the park that extended around the villa, inspired by the various types of gardens in vogue at the time. There was the
French garden, decorated with fountains and geometric hedges,
the Italian garden and also the English garden. Some of these are still recognisable within the park today; the English garden, on the other hand, is rather hidden. The original purpose of this type of garden was in fact to recreate a natural, wild environment. That’s why today it is difficult to identify it in the large green area of the park.
There used to be other buildings in the park such as warehouses, former farmhouses and oriental-style temples also belonging to the noble family's possessions.
The fauna of Talon Park
Although the park is located rather close to the centre of Casalecchio, inside it we can still admire some native natural environments, typical of the Bolognese Apennine area, and many animal species.
Among the rarest is the
spectacled salamander, an endangered species identified in only three places in the entire province of Bologna that loves woodland environments and watercourses. Due to its rarity, the places where it lives must be protected: this is why an integral protection regime has been established here.
In addition to salamanders, the Talon Park is also home to
many species of bats divided into different colonies. Their presence indicates a protected and clean environment. The park's bats live inside the air-raid shelters built during the Second World War to shelter the population from the bombardments which happened here because of Casalecchio’s strategic position. A railway station and the bridge that allowed the crossing of the Reno River were located here. Although their entrances have been barred with gates, the tunnels remain accessible to bats.
