2023
March
An idea born in Amsterdam
At the launch of the European project LiFi on fires, a first group decides: a response is also needed in Sicily.
2026 New presidency, new phase: Fenice Verde 2.0
We work on the before and after the fire.
Since 2023 we have turned the spotlight on the burned-area register, studied fifteen years of satellite data and built the first Wildfire Observatory in Sicily. Now let's move from ideas to construction sites: municipal land that becomes forest again.
Fire in progress? Call 112, 115 or 1515 immediately — or report the fire out on the Observatory .
The fire lasts a summer. Our work, twelve months.
How the year of Fenice Verde is distributed
Swipe to the side to see the whole year.
gen
feb
mar
apr
mag
giu
lug
ago
set
ott
nov
dic
Season at risk
Prevention
Citizen reports
Burned-area register
July 31st: deadline for Municipalities
Radice Verde
Care of new woods
Monitoring
March 31: public report
Schools and outings
- WinterJan–Feb: Radice Verde plants with rain; count of live plants; go out with the schools.
- SpringMar–May: March 31 public report; mowing and clean strips; sowing and germplasm.
- SummerJune–Aug: season at risk, 31 July land register deadline for municipalities, satellite verification of burned areas.
- AutumnSep–Nov: first rains and new plantings; new school year; monitoring.
Indicative periods for coast and hills, from our technician Vademecum. In the mountains it is planted at the end of winter.
Photo: Lake Maulazzo, Nebrodi — Davide Mauro, CC BY-SA 4.0 · beech forest of the Bosco della Tassita, Nebrodi — Davide Mauro, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Pineta Ragabo, Etna — Giglio Domenico Mirko, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons — illustrative image)
142
Sicilian municipalities placed under commissioners in 2026 for failing to update the burned-area register.
A burned area that no one registers remains available.
After a fire, the law blocks for years what could make it convenient to set it: no new buildings for ten years, no changes of intended use for fifteen, no grazing or hunting in the burned woods. But the bans are valid only if the Municipality registers the area in burned-area register.
We have been denouncing it since 2024, with data, articles and letters to the Mayors. In 2026 the Region had to place more than a third of Sicilian municipalities under commissionership.
Without a land register, whoever starts the fire knows that the area will remain available.
Source: regional measure appointing ad acta commissioners (2026), reported by Quotidiano di Sicilia.
Photo: pine forest on lava flow, Etna — gnuckx, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons — illustrative image)
Radice Verde
An idea that becomes a construction site
Using seeds and plants of local origin to guide the rebirth of burned areas, one stage at a time, from the prairie to the woods: this is the method we have been studying since the early years of the association.
Today, with the framework agreement that we propose to the Municipalities, it becomes Radice Verde: municipal land entrusted for decades, projects signed by qualified technicians, five years of care, public results.
So far
We only publish numbers we can document.
42members one year after birth, September 2024
13services and articles about us, from Repubblica to RAI 3
2Pilot municipalities on the land register: Carlentini and San Mauro Castelverde
200ash trees planted in Pollina, with French technicians
Before you ask, let's measure
In 2024 we asked Copernicus for Italian data on fires since 2009. The result is a study that we brought to the city council, in the squares and in the newspapers.
- More fires every year. In Sicily the fires detected by satellite went from 212 in 2019 to 653 in 2023.
- Suspicious times. In addition to the peak expected in the middle of the day, there are peaks at 8pm and between midnight and 2am. Fires that start between 8pm and 9pm last on average 50% longer.
212
499
523
562
653
Three things we do, throughout Sicily
We offer them to the Municipalities with a single agreement. The Municipality chooses which ones to activate.
Land registry and prevention
We support the municipal offices in surveying the burnt areas: satellite checks, ordered and geo-referenced citizens' observations, a reporting channel on the Wildfire Observatory.
The burned-area registerRadice Verde
We restore uncultivated or burned municipal land to forest, with native species locally sourced, five years of care and measured and published results.
The programTraining
«One Forest, One Future» in schools, the course on fire ecology, field trips where nature is being reborn.
Schools and coursesWhat can you do
«The superpower of human beings is working together to change the world.» Choose based on the time you have.
Become a member
€15 per year. You vote in the assembly and you are part of the choices: the fee supports the land registry, Radice Verde and the schools.
Sign upWrite to your Mayor
Ask if the burned-area register of your municipality is up to date. The letter is ready: add the name of the Municipality and your signature.
Open the letterDonate to the association
Support the work that cannot be seen: data, support for municipalities, schools, volunteer insurance.
Donate
Three other ways to be there - reporting a burnt area, financing a construction site, walking with us - are on the Support page.
Do you work with an institution?
You are a municipality
Free support for burned-area register, Radice Verde on municipal lands, education in schools. No compensation: voluntary work and, if applicable, reimbursement of documented expenses only.
The proposal to the MunicipalitiesYou are a school
4–6 hour modules for secondary schools, with field trips, citizen science and twinning with European classes.
The path to classesYou are a company or a foundation
Co-finance a batch of Radice Verde, bring employees to a plant day, support the Observatory. We report by project.
Work with usPhoto: Reserved by Monte Genuardo — Davide Mauro, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons — illustrative image)
Home / History
Three years against the fire, and the chapter that opens
Fenice Verde was born from a few people and from a simple idea: the fires in Sicily are not a fatality, and what has a human cause can be fought.
Photo: beech forest of the Bosco della Tassita, Nebrodi — Davide Mauro, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons — illustrative image)
Three years, eleven steps
From a conversation in Amsterdam to an agreement with Sicilian municipalities. The path that brought us here.
2023
September
Fenice Verde is born
Ecologists, geologists, botanists, zoologists, jurists and communicators in a single association.
2024
July
Fifteen years of fires, read by satellite
We ask Copernicus for the data and discover the "strange Sicily case".
2024
July
Write to the Mayor
The campaign starts on burned-area register. Repubblica and Quotidiano di Sicilia write about it.
2024
September
42 members and the Municipality of Palermo
We meet the Third Council Commission and the councilor for environmental policies.
2024
November
The course on fire ecology
Ten modules, twenty hours, seven teachers including ecologists, geologists, naturalists and jurists.
2025
spring
Born on Wildfire Observatory
The first in Sicily, with the Sicily Environment Fund and the patronage of the Region.
2025
May
200 ash trees in Pollina
A twinning with French technicians: planted trees and fire avenues. The service airs on RAI 3.
2025
July
In the square in front of Palazzo d’Orléans
With dozens of organizations we call for a coordinated strategy against arson.
2026
April
Fenice Verde 2.0
Re-founding Congress: Marco Miceli president, a board of five people.
2026
October
From projects to construction sites
The agreement with the Municipalities and Radice Verde: the municipal lands return to forest.
How it started
It all starts from a conversation in Amsterdam, at the launch of LiFi, Living with Wildfires, the research project by Professor Ayşem Mert of Stockholm University on communities that live with large fires. From there it's a short step: an answer was also needed in Sicily.
In March 2023 Emiliano Farinella, Martina Oddo and Giovanni Tarantino begin working on a fire prevention network. Fenice Verde was officially born in September and the group expanded to include skills that still define us today.
The ideas were clear from the beginning: starting from scientific evidence, analyzing the data, collaborating with the institutions to make them more effective, involving the communities already active, leaving to those who come a better Sicily than the one we inherited.
With them, in 2023, they entered:
- Giuseppe Firemigeologist
- Marco Giordanobotanist
- Ettore Zaffutozoologist and ornithologist
- Fabio Punzilawyer, environmental law
- Rosalia Bivonaeducational
- Roberta Lojaconocommunication
- Antonio La Barbaproject management
Our history, year by year
The year-by-year history is available in Italian only.
2023
- marzo
Il primo gruppo
Un piccolo gruppo di scienziati e cittadini comincia a studiare il fenomeno degli incendi in Sicilia e a cercare alleati.
- settembre
Nasce Fenice Verde
Si costituisce l’associazione. Il nome viene dall’uccello che rinasce dalle sue ceneri: è quello che sa fare la natura mediterranea, se le si dà tempo.
- ottobre
La prima volta sui giornali
PalermoToday scrive di noi. È l’inizio di una presenza costante sui media.
2024
- marzo
Monte Inici
Nella notte tra il 9 e il 10 marzo brucia la montagna sopra Castellammare del Golfo. Raccontiamo il sospetto legato alla raccolta degli asparagi selvatici, e perché la legge vieta per tre anni la raccolta nel sottobosco delle aree bruciate.
- giugno e luglio
La campagna sul catasto incendi
Analizziamo i ritardi dei Comuni e lanciamo «Scrivi al Sindaco». Collaboriamo con il Quotidiano di Sicilia sui commissariamenti e ne scrive due volte la Repubblica.
- 23 luglio
«15 anni di incendi in Italia e lo strano caso Sicilia»
Il nostro studio sui dati satellitari Copernicus dal 2009 al 2024: la Sicilia brucia di più, più spesso e in tutte le stagioni.
- settembre
42 soci e il Comune di Palermo
Festeggiamo i primi 42 associati. Il 12 settembre incontriamo la Terza Commissione del Consiglio comunale di Palermo, il 5 ottobre l’assessore alle politiche ambientali Piero Alongi.
- ottobre
Dal territorio ai media nazionali
A San Vito Lo Capo parliamo di catasto incendi alla proiezione di «Terra Nera». A San Mauro Castelverde due giorni di ecoturismo tra gli ulivi delle Madonie. Il 31 ottobre ne scrive Irpimedia, il giorno dopo ne parla Rai Play Sound.
- novembre e dicembre
Il corso «L’ecologia degli incendi»
Dieci moduli online, venti ore, sette docenti. A novembre siamo anche all’Università di Palermo con il Dipartimento di Scienze agrarie, alimentari e forestali, e a Bosco Scorace con RIFAI Sicilia.
2025
- primavera
L’Osservatorio Incendi
Nasce il primo osservatorio civico sugli incendi in Sicilia, finanziato dal Sicily Environment Fund, con il patrocinio dell’Assessorato regionale del Territorio e dell’Ambiente e della Protezione civile regionale. Entra nelle reti europee EU-Citizen.Science e CitiObs.
- 13 maggio
200 frassini a Pollina
Con Sicily Events e un gruppo di tecnici francesi mettiamo a dimora 200 frassini e prepariamo i viali tagliafuoco. Il servizio va in onda su RAI 3.
- 17 maggio
Una rete per tutta la Sicilia
All’Incontro regionale per un coordinamento antincendio, associazioni e gruppi da tutta l’isola individuano nell’Osservatorio il proprio punto di riferimento.
- 2025
Due Comuni pilota
Carlentini e San Mauro Castelverde pubblicano i catasti provvisori con cartografia digitale e osservazioni online, con il nostro supporto.
- 31 luglio
In piazza davanti a Palazzo d’Orléans
Con Isola Fenice, il Coordinamento Operativo Volontariato e decine di organizzazioni portiamo davanti alla sede del Governo regionale la richiesta di una strategia coordinata contro gli incendi dolosi.
- ottobre e novembre
Incontri e cammini
Ai Cantieri Culturali alla Zisa con Legambiente Sicilia e Drin Drin Sicilia, a San Martino delle Scale sulle tracce dell’incendio del 2023, a «Un’anticchia di COP30» con Palma Nana, a Caltagirone con il comitato Dopo il Fuoco.
2026
- 11 aprile
Fenice Verde 2.0
Il congresso rifondativo elegge Marco Miceli presidente e allarga il Direttivo a cinque persone. Le priorità: citizen science e Osservatorio, una spinta legislativa dall’emergenza alla prevenzione con FireFree, la resilienza dei territori con la riforestazione.
- 12 aprile
Sentieri di Rinascita
In Valle Gamisia, a San Martino delle Scale, con le guide di Effetto Outdoor: un cammino nella natura che riprende dopo il fuoco.
- ottobre
Dai progetti ai cantieri
Proponiamo ai Comuni siciliani una convenzione quadro su catasto, riforestazione ed educazione. Il Comitato Tecnico Scientifico pubblica il Vademecum per la forestazione. Nasce Radice Verde.
Traveling companions
We didn't do anything alone. These are some of the companies we have worked with in recent years.
Home / Studies
Studies and research
Before asking the institutions for something, let's measure. Here you will find the analytical work behind our campaigns and projects.
Photo: Bosco di Santo Pietro — Davide Mauro, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons — illustrative image)
15 years of fires in Italy and the strange Sicily case
The European State of the Climate Report 2023 showed something surprising: for the same climate, burned areas follow administrative borders. Portugal and Spain, Sicily and Puglia, Greece and Türkiye. Fire does not depend only on the weather, but on how the territory is governed.
We asked Copernicus for Italian data from 2009 to April 2024 and analyzed it.
- More fires every year. Since monitoring covers the whole year, the fires detected in Sicily have gone from 212 in 2019 to 653 in 2023: more than any other Italian region.
- The times that don't add up. The peak in the middle of the day is expected. Those at 8pm and between midnight and 2am are not: they are difficult to explain with natural or accidental causes.
- The fire at the end of the shift. Fires started between 8pm and 9pm last on average 50% longer than those at midday.
- Even where it should be protected. Between 10 and 25% of the surface burned every year falls in Natura 2000 areas.
The limits, clearly stated
Until 2016, satellites monitored only the summer, and do not see fires below 3 hectares. In a fragmented landscape like the Sicilian one, even those destroy entire ecosystems. Our numbers are therefore an underestimate.
Burned-area register: the chain of delays
In 2024, the Regional Forestry Information System publishes the mapping of burned areas on February 16. The Region communicates this on April 2nd. Our technicians calculate that, by starting immediately, the Municipalities could have updated the land register as early as the beginning of June. In July very few had done so.
Meanwhile, the municipalities that were in default for 2022 were only placed under commissionership in May 2024. With the restrictions not applied, the areas burned the previous year remained without protection right at the beginning of the new fire season.
From this analysis the «Write to the Mayor» campaign was born, the collaboration with the Quotidiano di Sicilia and, today, the offer of free support to the Municipalities.
Local germplasm and plant succession
The study that laid the scientific foundations of Radice Verde: how to guide the rebirth of burnt areas towards resilient ecosystems rich in biodiversity, using seeds, bulbs and cuttings from local populations and respecting the natural order of succession.
Vademecum technician for forestation and renaturation in Sicily
The rules with which we design, plant, look after and measure: preliminary investigations, choice of native species for strip and substrate, plants less vulnerable to fire, five years of care, public indicators. It is the technical annex of the agreement with the Municipalities.
The register of wildfires in Sicily: regulatory note
National law 353/2000, regional law 16/1996, municipal acts: the three-level framework, the deadlines for the year and the role that citizens can have.
Home / Radice Verde
Radice Verde
The program with which Fenice Verde brings the forest back to burnt or abandoned municipal land. It was born from the scientific work of our early years and becomes concrete with the framework agreement that we propose to the Sicilian Municipalities.
Photo: Reserved by Monte Genuardo — Davide Mauro, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons — illustrative image)
Radice Verde in five points
- Municipal lands in free loan for use up to thirty years or under concession.
- Project signed by an agronomist or forester, opinion of Scientific and Technical Committee, approval of the Municipality.
- Seedlings of certified local origin and sowing of acorns and seeds collected on site.
- The forest rebuilt in the right order, from pioneer plants to trees, together with the local communities.
- Five years of treatment, public monitoring, dedicated funding on Roots.
The Radice Verde method was born from the work of the ecologist Martina Oddo, one of the founders of the association.
Three ideas that guide us
Local seeds
Each population of plants has a genetic set adapted to its territory: Sicilian plants cope better with heat and drought than those in the north, those in the Palermo area have adapted to limestone, those in Catania to volcanic soil.
The image of the sled
Using non-local plants is like having Dalmatians pull a sled instead of huskies: at first you start, but you don't get far.
First the ground, then the forest
After a fire, nature restarts in stages: prairie, garrigue, scrub, forest. The low plants protect and nourish the soil, then come the shrubs, then the trees. We help this sequence, we don't skip it.
Pioneers such as broom remain within the nuclei, away from roads and borders: they enrich the soil, but burn easily.
Resilience, not just resistance
A resilient ecosystem takes hits. A resilient person, if he goes down, gets back up on his own. This is what we are looking for: forests that know how to recover after a fire.
The image of the boxer
He who doesn't go to ground is resistant. Those who fall and come back to fight are resilient.
The rules we follow
From the Vademecum technician of our Scientific and Technical Committee.
After a fire you don't plant immediately
Many Mediterranean species grow back on their own: holm oak, cork oak, mastic tree, strawberry tree. Let's wait at least until the following spring, map out the recovery and plant only where nature can't.
Only native species, locally sourced
Oaks, ash, carob, wild olive, mastic, myrtle, chosen according to the altitude, soil and climate of the site. No eucalyptus, conifers or invasive species in the new plantings.
Mixed nuclei, never in a row
Trees in the center and shrubs around: the shrubs shade the young oaks and protect them from animals. The regular rows become continuous streaks of fuel.
Woods designed to resist fire
Open spaces between the nuclei, low-flammability species on the edges, low biomass strips along roads and borders, access for fire-fighting vehicles.
Five years of treatment
In Sicily the young plants die mainly of thirst. In the first years we do emergency irrigation in the summer and replace the plants that didn't make it.
Measured results, without inflating them
Permanent test areas, photos from the same points, public annual report. We do not declare tons of CO₂ unless they are calculated using recognized and verified methods.
The path of a lot
Choice of areas
With the Municipality: parcels, constraints, history of fires.
Investigations
Soil, present vegetation, natural regeneration, invasive species.
Project
Signed by a qualified technician, with the opinion of the CTS, approved by the Municipality.
Plant
In the rainy season, with volunteers and partners. Georeferenced minutes.
Care
For at least five years, with a record of each intervention.
Monitoring
Annual technical report, published.
Municipal lands that become forest again
We ask the Municipalities for uncultivated, degraded or burned hectares, and we start from a pilot plot of 2–3 hectares. Each batch starts only when we have the resources and volunteers to look after it for five years: we do not leave seedlings to die in the first summer.
We build a network around each area: local associations, scouts, CAI sections, civil protection volunteers, agricultural companies. The planting days are open to citizens, schools and businesses.
We took the first step in Pollina, in May 2025: 200 ash trees and fire avenues, with the French twinning technicians.
Finance Radice Verde
Radice Verde is supported on Roots, the platform with which you finance plants and care on construction sites and follow their growth. Foundations, companies and public tenders also contribute.
In areas burned for less than five years, the law prohibits reforestation with public funds, unless authorized. With private resources we can also intervene there, when the project requires it.
Home / Land register and prevention
So that a burned forest remains a forest
The burned-area register is the list of areas affected by fire that each Municipality must keep updated. It is a little-known and decisive tool: it makes bans applicable that take away the convenience of those who set fires. It has been our battle since 2024.
Photo: Sughereta di Niscemi fire, 24 July 2025 — Gianfrancodp, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons — illustrative image)
The procedural part of this section concerns Italian municipalities, so it is in Italian. In short: in Sicily, land crossed by fire is protected by law for years and every municipality must keep its register of burned areas up to date. We monitor the delays and help municipalities that ask for it. The campaign and the letter to the mayor address Italian mayors, so the rest of the page is in Italian.
Cosa vieta la legge sulle aree bruciate
Art. 10 della legge 353/2000, modificato dal D.L. 120/2021. In Sicilia lo recepisce l’art. 37 della L.R. 16/1996, che fissa al 31 luglio il termine annuale per aggiornare il catasto.
15 anni
10 anni
5 anni
3 anni
Come si aggiorna il catasto, e dove entriamo noi
Il procedimento resta del Comune. Noi rendiamo più rapido e più completo il lavoro degli uffici.
Rilievo
Il Corpo forestale della Regione perimetra l’area bruciata.
Noi: verifica satellitare delle superfici (Copernicus, EFFIS, NASA FIRMS)Elenco provvisorio
L’ufficio tecnico associa le superfici alle particelle catastali.
Noi: perimetri in formato GIS pronti per l’ufficioOsservazioni
L’elenco resta 30 giorni all’albo pretorio: chiunque può presentare osservazioni.
Noi: osservazioni dei cittadini, ordinate e georiferiteIstruttoria
Entro 60 giorni il Comune valuta le osservazioni e definisce i perimetri.
Approvazione
La delibera rende i vincoli opponibili. In Sicilia l’aggiornamento va fatto entro il 31 luglio.
Dal 2021 gli aggiornamenti vanno pubblicati sul sito del Comune appena noti, con applicazione immediata e provvisoria dei vincoli. I nostri dati sono un supporto tecnico: non sostituiscono i rilievi del Corpo forestale.
L’Osservatorio Incendi
Il primo osservatorio civico sugli incendi in Sicilia, nato nel 2025 con il Sicily Environment Fund. Unisce le segnalazioni dei cittadini ai dati satellitari e serve a tre cose: non perdere nessuna area bruciata, dare agli uffici comunali dati ordinati, mostrare a tutti come sta il territorio.
Mappa anche le associazioni e i gruppi che si battono contro gli incendi: è il punto di riferimento della rete nata all’Incontro regionale del maggio 2025. Fa parte delle reti europee EU-Citizen.Science e CitiObs.
Apri l’OsservatorioSe vedi un incendio
- Chiama subito il 112, il 115 (Vigili del fuoco) o il 1515 (Corpo forestale). Indica il luogo nel modo più preciso possibile.
- Allontanati dal fumo e dal fronte del fuoco. Non provare a spegnerlo da solo.
- A fuoco spento, segnala l’area sull’Osservatorio: posizione, data, una foto. Aiuterà il Comune a censirla.
L’Osservatorio non è un numero di emergenza e non sostituisce le autorità.
Dal 2024, una campagna che ha fatto strada
Nell’estate 2024 abbiamo ricostruito i ritardi dei Comuni sul catasto e lanciato «Scrivi al Sindaco». Il Quotidiano di Sicilia ha raccontato con noi i commissariamenti, la Repubblica ne ha scritto due volte, RAI 3 e Rai Play Sound hanno ripreso il tema.
A settembre e ottobre 2024 lo abbiamo portato alla Terza Commissione del Consiglio comunale di Palermo e all’assessore alle politiche ambientali. Nel 2025 Carlentini e San Mauro Castelverde hanno pubblicato i catasti provvisori con cartografia digitale e osservazioni online, con il nostro supporto.
Oggi offriamo lo stesso supporto a tutti i Comuni siciliani, con una convenzione.
Scrivi al tuo Sindaco
Una lettera di un cittadino ricorda al Comune che il catasto interessa a qualcuno. Copiala, completa le parti tra parentesi e inviala alla PEC del tuo Comune o all’ufficio protocollo.
Oggetto: aggiornamento del catasto delle aree percorse dal fuoco (art. 10 L. 353/2000 e art. 37 L.R. 16/1996)
Gentile Sindaco,
sono [nome e cognome], residente a [Comune]. Le scrivo per sapere se il catasto delle aree percorse dal fuoco del nostro Comune è aggiornato con gli incendi del [anno] e dove posso consultarlo.
La legge chiede ai Comuni di aggiornarlo ogni anno, in Sicilia entro il 31 luglio. Solo le aree censite sono protette dai divieti previsti: niente nuove costruzioni per dieci anni, nessun cambio di destinazione d’uso per quindici. Un catasto aggiornato protegge il territorio e toglie a chi appicca il fuoco ogni convenienza.
Le chiedo inoltre di pubblicare gli aggiornamenti in una sezione dedicata del sito istituzionale, come previsto dal D.L. 120/2021, e di valutare il supporto tecnico gratuito che l’associazione Fenice Verde APS offre ai Comuni (feniceverde.org).
Resto in attesa di un cortese riscontro.
[nome e cognome]
[email o recapito]
Dove trovo la PEC del Comune?
Sul sito istituzionale, in fondo alla pagina, oppure su indicepa.gov.it cercando il nome del Comune.
E se non risponde?
Puoi chiedere gli stessi dati con un accesso civico generalizzato: non serve motivarlo e il Comune deve rispondere entro 30 giorni. Se ci scrivi, ti aiutiamo a prepararlo.
Facci sapere com’è andata
Raccogliamo le risposte dei Comuni per capire dove il catasto manca e dove offrire supporto. Inoltra la risposta a info@feniceverde.org.
Home / Training
Understanding fire to defend Sicily
From middle school classes to hiking guides: for three years we have been bringing fire ecology to those who can change things, and then we go out to look where nature is being reborn.
Photo: Bosco della Contessa, Etna — Davide Mauro, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons — illustrative image)
One Forest, One Future
The path for first and second level secondary schools. Six autonomous modules of 4–6 hours, linked to civic education, with field trips, citizen science and digital twinning with European classes.
Where Radice Verde is active, the municipal area becomes an outdoor classroom: a class can adopt it and follow it over the years. The materials are published under the CC BY 4.0 open license.
- The burning forest. Why Sicily burns, who sets the fire, what the law says.
- After the fire: the earth that rises again. How a Mediterranean forest is reborn, and when it needs help.
- Fire avenues and prevention. What to do before summer, and what each of us can do.
- Ecosystem services and biodiversity. Water, soil, shade, species: what does a forest give us that we don't see.
- Citizens of the climate. Public data, land register, letters to municipalities: participation as a competence.
- One forest, many countries. Digital twinning with European classes experiencing the same problem.
The course «The ecology of fires»
First edition: November and December 2024. Ten online modules, twenty hours, a final presentation based on an excursion project. Created for certified hiking guides, then open to enthusiasts and the curious.
What you learn
- Types of fires and causes. The technical and ecological classification, the potential causes, the legislation.
- Fire, rocks and soil. Stability of slopes, aquifers, erosion, fertility, microclimate.
- Fire and vegetation. Pyrophytic plants, indicator species, secondary successions.
- Fire and fauna. Fragmented habitats, more vulnerable species, dens and tracks.
- Ecosystem services. What cities and people lose when a slope burns.
- Ecoanxiety. The psychological effects of environmental disasters on communities.
Who taught
- Martina Oddoecologist and biogeographer, PhD in agricultural chemistry
- Giuseppe Firemigeologist, hydrogeology and hydraulic-forestry arrangements
- Marco Giordanonaturalist, geobotany of the Mediterranean
- Ettore Zaffutoornithologist and nature guide
- Fabio Punzilawyer, prevention of eco-crimes
- Rosalia Bivonacoordinator of the course, teaching
- Emiliano Farinellafounding president
Do you want a new edition?
For a group of guides, an association or a body: write to us and we will build the calendar together.
Walk where the fire has passed
Our excursions take you to see up close what a fire does and how nature recovers. Always with certified guides, for groups, families and schools.
- Gamisia Valley, San Martino delle Scale. November 2025 and April 2026: Serra dell'Occhio, Portella Sant'Anna, the ancient convent, nature recovering after the fire.
- Grotta Grattara, Gratteri. September 2024: the impact of the latest fires and the recovery of vegetation.
- Bosco Scorace. November 2024, with RIFAI Sicilia.
- Extra virgin ecological routes, San Mauro Castelverde. October 2024: two days among the olive trees of the Madonie, where the culture of the olive tree becomes protection of the territory.
For schools
Tailor-made outings with guides from FederEscursionismo Sicilia: the Bosco della Ficuzza, the sources of Sant'Elia in Aglisotto, the Capo Rama reserve with the Palazzo d'Aumale museum in Terrasini.
Home / For Municipalities
Three lines, one convention
After two years of campaign on the land registry and two pilot municipalities, we propose to the Sicilian municipalities a collaboration in shared administration on the land registry of the areas affected by fire, reforestation of municipal lands with Radice Verde and environmental education. The Municipality chooses which lines to activate, even at different times.
Photo: Rocca Busambra, Ficuzza Reserve — tato Grasso, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons — illustrative image)
This section addresses Sicilian municipalities only and is available in Italian only.
Linea 1: catasto incendi
Supporto tecnico e civico all’ufficio comunale: verifica indipendente delle superfici con dati satellitari, osservazioni dei cittadini ordinate e georiferite nei 30 giorni di pubblicazione, un canale di segnalazione dedicato al Comune sull’Osservatorio, perimetri in formato GIS quando disponibili.
Linea 2: Radice Verde
Ettari comunali incolti, degradati o bruciati, affidati in comodato d’uso gratuito o in concessione, lotto per lotto. Progetto firmato da un tecnico abilitato, specie autoctone certificate, cinque anni di cure, monitoraggio pubblico.
Linea 3: educazione
Il progetto «Un Solo Bosco, Un Solo Futuro» nelle scuole del territorio, con uscite sul campo e incontri pubblici. Dove è attiva la Linea 2, le aree comunali diventano un laboratorio all’aperto.
Per la riforestazione chiediamo
- Ettari di proprietà comunale incolti, degradati o percorsi dal fuoco.
- Comodato d’uso gratuito fino a trent’anni (art. 71 del Codice del Terzo settore) o concessione d’uso.
- Affidamento lotto per lotto, a partire da un lotto pilota di 2–3 ettari.
- Accesso alle aree, punti d’acqua, ritiro dei residui vegetali.
E portiamo
- Progetto firmato da un dottore agronomo o forestale, con il parere del nostro Comitato Tecnico Scientifico.
- Solo specie autoctone, di provenienza locale certificata.
- Impianto, cure per cinque anni e monitoraggio pubblico dei risultati.
- Una raccolta fondi dedicata, anche con l’adozione degli alberi, e una rete di associazioni locali come partner.
Cosa non cambia per il Comune
La convenzione si fonda sull’art. 118 della Costituzione e sul Codice del Terzo settore (artt. 55, 56 e 71). Non è un appalto e non sostituisce i compiti del Comune: li affianca.
- Gli atti restano degli uffici. Il catasto lo istruisce e lo approva il Comune. Noi forniamo dati, verifiche e partecipazione.
- Nessuna esclusiva. Dati e risultati restano aperti alla comunità.
- Nessun corrispettivo. Lavoro volontario e, se previsto, rimborso delle sole spese documentate.
- Volontari assicurati ai sensi dell’art. 18 del Codice del Terzo settore.
- Relazione annuale e rendiconto delle spese entro il 31 marzo di ogni anno.
Dalla prima PEC alla firma
Manifestazione di interesse
Una PEC con il nome di un referente comunale.
Incontro tecnico
45 minuti con Sindaco e uffici: demo dell’Osservatorio e prime aree candidate.
Istruttoria
Scelta delle linee, verifica delle particelle, delibera di Giunta.
Firma e avvio
Catasto dal ciclo successivo, prima stagione di impianto, adesione delle scuole.
Parliamone
Referente per i Comuni: Marco Miceli, presidente. marco.miceli@feniceverde.org, +39 346 236 8383
Home / How it works
One association, two tools, one territory
Fenice Verde works with two platforms. Each has a specific task and different sources of support. So you always know what your contribution is for.
Photo: Lago Maulazzo, Nebrodi — Davide Mauro, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons — illustrative image)
Wildfire Observatory
The data
It collects citizens' reports, cross-references them with satellite data, and helps municipalities keep the land registry updated. Develops digital projects with research and design entities in Italy and Europe.
Who supports it: Sicily Environment Fund, European research and citizen science projects and networks (EU-Citizen.Science, CitiObs).
Open the Observatory ↗Fenice Verde APS
The people, the land, the method
Signs the agreements with the Municipalities and obtains the land on loan or concession. With Radice Verde it coordinates volunteers, Scientific and Technical Committee and partner associations who reforest with us. Bring the project to schools.
Who supports it: members, donors, foundations, regional and national calls.
Support the associationRoots
Resources for planting
Raises funds on a Radice Verde basis, tree by tree and yard by yard, with public species, location and growth data.
Who supports it: private individuals, companies, foundations, public tenders including those of the Sicilian Region.
Go to Roots ↗How they pass the job
- Observatory → Fenice VerdeData on burned areas, for the land registry and to choose where to intervene.
- Municipalities → Fenice VerdeLand on loan or concession, land registry data and deadlines.
- Fenice Verde → RootsLots with approved project, which become financeable construction sites.
- Roots → construction sitesResources for certified seedlings, planting and five years of care.
- Partner associations → construction sitesVolunteers and care of the areas, with deed of adhesion to the agreement.
- Construction sites → allMonitoring data, published on the Observatory and on Roots.
One association, two tools
Fenice Verde brings together people, municipalities and method. The Wildfire Observatory collects the data. Roots gathers resources for Radice Verde. Everyone does one thing, and does it completely.
- Wildfire Observatory: citizen reports and satellite data on burned areas, to support the municipal land register.
- Fenice Verde: agreements with Municipalities, land on loan, Scientific and Technical Committee, volunteers and partner associations.
- Roots: fundraising for Radice Verde, tree by tree, with public data on construction sites.
Where your contribution goes
| If you | Goes to | It is used for |
|---|---|---|
| You pay the membership fee | Fenice Verde APS | Life of the association, volunteer insurance, coordination |
| Donations to the association | Fenice Verde APS | Support to Municipalities on land registry, schools, materials, field days |
| You finance a tree or a hectare | The yard you choose, via Roots | Certified seedlings, planting, care for five years, monitoring |
| You are a foundation or an entity | The agreed project | Reported separately, as required by our agreements |
Home / Support
Stay on the side of the woods
«The superpower of human beings is working together to change the world.» There are more ways to support us and they serve different purposes: we tell you clearly, so you choose.
Photo: Sughereta di Niscemi — Davide Mauro, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons — illustrative image)
Tax benefits apply only to people who pay taxes in Italy. The membership form asks for an Italian tax code (codice fiscale): if you do not have one, write to info@feniceverde.org and we will complete your registration by hand.
Become a member
The members are the association: they vote in the assembly, elect the bodies, decide the priorities. The more we are, the more we weigh when we talk to the Municipalities and the Region.
€15Member
Share the goals and support the association.
The fee is valid for the calendar year and is renewed by January 31st.
Fill in and press «Associate»
These are the data from the shareholders' register: name, tax code, municipality, date of birth. A few minutes.
You pay the fee
€15, for the current calendar year. On the secure page of Stripe by card, or by bank transfer.
You are a member
As soon as the payment is registered, you enter the membership register and receive confirmation via email. The card does not pass through the Board of Directors.
Donate to the association
Donations to Fenice Verde finance the work that makes everything else possible: support for the Municipalities with the land register, Observatory, schools, volunteer insurance, tools for the days in the field.
A monthly donation, even a small one, allows us to plan the summer care of the new woods.
Donate €50 once
You pay on the secure Stripe page, by card. We do not enter or store card details on this site.
Amount: €50 · one-off · purpose: association activity.
Before paying, read the privacy policy: the payment is processed by Stripe, we receive the amount, date, outcome and the confirmation email. The confirmation via email is not a tax document: the certification of the donation can be requested from info@feniceverde.org.
I prefer bank transfer
- Payable to
- Fenice Verde APS
- IBAN
- IT81A0306909606100000400948
- Amount
- 50 €
- Causal
- Liberal donation – name and surname
Donations to Fenice Verde, Italian non-profit association registered with RUNTS, are deductible or deductible according to art. 83 of the Third Sector Code, if done with traceable means. For the receipt write to info@feniceverde.org.
Finance Radice Verde
The Fenice Verde reforestation program is supported by Roots. Choose the yard and the species, give a tree as a gift or adopt a hectare: receive the location of the plant and updates on its growth.
Give it your time
Volunteering is a path in itself: you apply, we contact you and together we understand where you are useful. We need different hands and skills, even a few hours a month.
The application is free and does not require membership to the association: fill out the form, we will contact you. If the register of volunteers and insurance coverage are needed for a field trip, we will explain it to you in the answer.
- In the field. Planting days in winter, care and irrigation in summer, plant counts.
- Data and maps. Verification of burned areas, GIS, management of Observatory reports.
- Communication. Photos from the field, social media, newsletters, stories of the volunteers.
- Tenders and fundraising. Searching for opportunities, writing projects, relations with donors.
- Schools and excursions. Support classroom modules, field trips, excursions with guides.
What can you do
«The superpower of human beings is working together to change the world.» Choose based on the time you have.
Report a burned area
With the fire out, indicate on the Observatory where the fire occurred, with a photo and the date.
Report to the ObservatoryFinance Radice Verde
On Roots choose the yard and follow your plant: species, location, care and growth data.
Go to RootsWalk with us
Excursions where nature is being reborn and planting days from November to February. We announce them in the newsletter.
Notify me
Companies and foundations
We are looking for partners who want to link their name to results measured in the Sicilian territory, not to promises. We report each resource received for a project separately.
- Co-finance a plot of Radice Verde on municipal land, from the project to the fifth year of treatment.
- Bring your employees to a plant day, November through February.
- Support the Wildfire Observatory and support for the Municipalities on the land registry.
- Build an application with us for calls from foundations, from the Sicilian Region or from European programmes.
Transparency
All donations arrive in accounts registered in Fenice Verde APS. The financial statements approved by the assembly and the annual reports of the construction sites are public.
- Annual report approved by the members' meeting.
- Annual report to the Municipalities with indicators, expenses and photos, by March 31st.
- Construction site data can be consulted on Roots and on the Observatory.
- Numbers only documented. If a data is not measured, we do not publish it.
Home / Who we are
Volunteers, science and municipalities on the same side
Fenice Verde is a Italian non-profit association registered in the single national register of the Third Sector. Born in Palermo in September 2023 and works throughout Sicily, with insured volunteers and a Scientific and Technical Committee which guarantees the rigor of choices. We are Sicilian, and we transform the hope of rebirth of our nature into action.
Photo: Zingaro Reserve — Giorgio Galeotti, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons — illustrative image)
Where we come from
We were born from a conversation in Amsterdam, at the launch of the European research project LiFi on fires, and from a group of scientists and citizens who no longer wanted to resign themselves to the burning summer.
In three years we have studied fifteen years of satellite data, brought the burned-area register to newspapers and institutions, built the first Wildfire Observatory in Sicily, trained guides and students. In April 2026 the congress elected Marco Miceli president and opened the Fenice Verde 2.0 phase.
Fenice Verde 2.0
On 11 April 2026 the members' congress elected Marco Miceli president and expanded the Board of Directors to five people. The objective is a guide that is closer to the territories, capable of transforming the work done into stable results.
We thank Emiliano Farinella, founding president, and all the people who built the first three years of the association.
«I take up this role with a deep sense of responsibility and with the awareness of how precious the work carried out to date by those who preceded me and by our entire community is.»
Marco Miceli, president of Fenice Verde
How we work
Each intervention follows the same sequence. Those who support us know where their contribution lies.
Let's start with the data
Burnt areas, municipal land registry, citizen reports: before acting, let's look at what happened and where.
We reach an agreement with the Municipality
A shared administration agreement: the Municipality remains the owner of the documents, we bring volunteer work and skills.
We plan with those who know
The Scientific and Technical Committee gives the opinion, an agricultural or forestry doctor signs the project, the offices approve it.
Let's intervene together
Volunteers, local associations, schools and local businesses: each area has a network around it that takes care of it.
We measure and publish
Verifiable indicators, public annual report, even when results are below expectations.
Five areas of action
These are the purposes of our statute. Here you will find what they mean in practice.
Prevention
We make restrictions on burned areas applicable, helping municipalities to update the land register and citizens to report.
CadastreRenaturation
With Radice Verde we bring the forest back to uncultivated or burned municipal land, with native species and five years of care.
Radice VerdeEducation
We bring the ecology of fire to schools and hiking guides, and transform reforested areas into outdoor classrooms.
TrainingAdaptation
We design forests that withstand a drier climate: species adapted to drought, systems that cut off fuel.
The rulesResilience
We build local networks that last: associations, scouts, civil protection, pro loco and agricultural companies around each area.
The networks
What we believe in
- Scientific rigor. The technical choices pass through Scientific and Technical Committee and verifiable methods.
- Respect for nature. We intervene only where needed and first of all help spontaneous renewal.
- Responsibility towards those who will come. A forest is judged in twenty years: this is why we take care of it and measure it.
- Transparency. Data, reports and accounts are public. Let's also tell you what didn't work.
- Replicability. Every model that works in one municipality must be able to work in the next.
- Community. Nothing is done without those who live in the area.
Who decides
- Members' meeting. Approves the budget, elects the bodies, indicates the priorities. Each member votes.
- Board of Directors. Five people, from the congress in April 2026. Leads the association between one assembly and another. President: Marco Miceli.
- Scientific and Technical Committee. Forestry, ecology, cartography and environmental science professionals, coordinated by the vice president. Gives opinions on projects and results.
- Volunteers. Registered in the register of volunteers and insured, as required by the Third Sector Code.
Who we work with
| Role | Chi |
|---|---|
| Free patronage | Regional Department of Territory and Environment; Presidency of the Sicilian Region, Department of Civil Protection |
| Support and partners | Sicily Environment Fund, which finances Wildfire Observatory; INSFO PC, civil protection operational training; COV Sicilia, coordination of volunteering |
| Pilot municipalities 2025 | Carlentini (SR) and San Mauro Castelverde (PA): provisional land registers published with digital cartography and online observations |
| European networks | EU-Citizen.Science; CitiObs, the European network of civic observatories |
| Networks in Sicily | Sicilian Coordination Against Fires; Isola Fenice, Permanent observatory on environmental disasters; the associations of the regional meeting of May 2025 |
Home / News
News, events, press
What we do, what we discover in the data, where you find us. From 2023 to today.
Photo: Rocca Busambra, Ficuzza Reserve — tato Grasso, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons — illustrative image)
News and press review are in Italian: the articles we quote are in Italian.
Ne hanno parlato
la RepubblicaRAI 3Rai Play SoundIrpimedialavialiberaQuotidiano di SiciliaPalermoTodayTP24CefalùBluIl Gattopardo
Rassegna stampa
Tredici servizi e articoli in tre anni. Grazie ai giornalisti che hanno amplificato i nostri appelli.
- TP24, 1 luglio 2025. L’Osservatorio Incendi fa notizia
- RAI 3, TGR Sicilia, 13 maggio 2025. Dalla Francia a Cefalù per imparare le tecniche antincendio
- lavialibera, 8 maggio 2025
- Rai Play Sound, Mediterradio, 1 novembre 2024. Il catasto incendi in Sicilia
- Irpimedia, 31 ottobre 2024. Perché in Sicilia gli incendi sono un problema senza soluzione
- PalermoToday, 16 ottobre 2024
- la Repubblica, 24 luglio 2024
- la Repubblica, 3 luglio 2024. Il catasto incendi
- Quotidiano di Sicilia, 12 giugno 2024. Catasto incendi, i Comuni commissariati
- CefalùBlu, 25 maggio 2024. In dodici anni a Cefalù in fumo 1.649 ettari di terreno
- RAI 3, 18 maggio 2024
- Il Gattopardo, aprile 2024
- PalermoToday, ottobre 2023
Home / Contacts
Write to us
We usually respond within a few days. We are volunteers: if we are late, write to us again.
Photo: Reserved by Monte Genuardo — Davide Mauro, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons — illustrative image)
For legal purposes, the Italian version of this page prevails.
General informationinfo@feniceverde.org
Municipalities, partners and pressMarco Miceli, presidentmarco.miceli@feniceverde.org+39 346 236 8383
SocialInstagram @fenice_verdeFacebook, Fenice Verde
Registered officeVia Leonardo da Vinci 412, 90135 Palermo
Association dataFenice Verde APS, tax code 97378070821RUNTS, Social Promotion Associations section, repertoire no. 137002IBAN IT81A0306909606100000400948
Please do not write to us due to a fire in progress
Call 112, 115 or 1515 immediately. Then, with the fire off, you can mark the area on the Wildfire Observatory.
Privacy
The data controller is Fenice Verde APS, Via Leonardo da Vinci 412, 90135 Palermo, C.F. 97378070821 — info@feniceverde.org.
What data and why. We only use the data needed for each module:
- Member registration: name, surname, email, telephone (optional), municipality, date of birth, tax code, type of membership and the two consents. They are used to compile the membership register and fulfill the association's obligations (statute and regulations on the third sector). Registration is completed with payment of the fee; the member's data remains in the membership register (confidential archive of the association or payment provider registry) and is not published.
- Volunteering: name, surname, email, telephone (optional), municipality, availability and skills. They are used to contact you and organize activities; For field trips, registration in the volunteer register and insurance coverage are required.
- Donations: amount, date, outcome, payment reference and email. The card details do not pass through the site and we do not store them: payment takes place on the Stripe page. We keep the details necessary for reconciliation and accounting and tax obligations.
- Newsletter: just the email address (and name, if you write it). Basis: your consent, revocable with a message to info@feniceverde.org.
To whom they are communicated. To those who provide us with technical services, on our behalf and with limited access: Stripe Payments Europe for card payments, the association's email provider for confirmations, Vercel for hosting the site and, when active, Microsoft 365 for the reserved membership archive. We do not pass the data on to third parties for marketing purposes.
Conservation. Members' data for the duration of the associative relationship and for the terms established by legal obligations; applications not accepted for the time necessary to evaluate and protect rights; donations for the period required by accounting and tax obligations; the newsletter until revocation.
Your rights. You can request access, rectification, cancellation, limitation, opposition and portability (articles 15-22 GDPR) by writing to info@feniceverde.org. If the answer does not satisfy you, you can contact the Guarantor for the protection of personal data.
We do not use automated decision-making processes to evaluate people: with card payment, registration is immediate, as required by the form, and the data is only used for the membership register. With the bank transfer, the registration is done by the Board. The retention times indicated above are our practice: for tax and association profiles, also refer to the opinion of the association's consultant.
Statute and Internal regulations (on request)
Request a document
Statute, internal regulation, technical handbook, agreement outline and proposal to the Municipalities are sent upon request. Fill out the form: the request will arrive at info@feniceverde.org and we will reply via email.
Name, institution, email and document. If automatic sending is not configured, the form tells you and shows you the address to write to: no request is considered sent without being sent.