As part of a long-term programme, we analyse the evolutionary status and properties of the old and populous open cluster Trumpler 5 (Tr 5), located in the Galactic anticentre direction, almost on the Galactic plane. Tr 5 was observed with Wide Field Imager@MPG/ESO Telescope using the Bessel U, B, and V filters. The cluster parameters have been obtained using the synthetic colour-magnitude diagram (CMD) method, i.e. the direct comparison of the observational CMD with a library of synthetic CMDs generated with different stellar evolution sets (Padova, FRANEC, and FST). Age, reddening, and distance are derived through the synthetic CMD method using stellar evolutionary models with subsolar metallicity (Z=0.004 or Z=0.006). Additional spectroscopic observations with Ultraviolet VLT Echelle Spectrograph@Very Large Telescope of three red clump stars of the cluster were used to determine more robustly the chemical properties of the cluster. Our analysis shows that Tr 5 has subsolar metallicity, with [Fe/H]=-0.403+/-0.006 dex (derived from spectroscopy), age between 2.9 and 4 Gyr (the lower age is found using stellar models without core overshooting), reddening E(B-V) in the range 0.60-0.66 mag complicated by a differential pattern (of the order of ~+/-0.1mag), and distance modulus (m-M)_0_=12.4+/-0.1mag.