12/23/2023 0 Comments Grand banks boats lost to timeNo pollution, no smog, no traffic,” said Federico Bianchino, a local tour guide and member of Riaprire i Navigli, an organisation dedicated the renovation of the navigli. It will help the Milanese to live better. “We have to see the re-opening as a big project for redeveloping the city. Currently, designs are being drafted for an underground tunnel to allow the water to pass through the city centre – it is hoped that the project could be completed by 2026 when Milan is set to co-host the Winter Olympics with Cortina d'Ampezzo. Its success and ongoing popularity long after the Expo have led to an incredibly ambitious project to completely re-open Milan’s Inner Ring.Īfter a lengthy consultation process that ended in 2019, a project was finally announced to re-open the 8km stretch of canal from Cassina di Pomm in the north of the city to the Darsena in the south, effectively retracing Milan’s medieval central canal system and seeing freshwater flow through Milan for the first time in half a century. Kayakers glide over its glassy waters fishermen teach their grandkids the patient art of angling while runners trace loops around the boardwalk. Every day, people stroll around its banks or sit with a takeaway cocktail from the nearby bars – an increasingly common sight during the pandemic. Today, the Darsena provides a vital lung in a city infamous for its pollution. You sit down and you’re on the sea of Milan,” she said. It’s filled with interesting shops and specialist butchers. But the market that has been built there has become very popular. “In the beginning there was a lot of 'why are they doing this?'. Now, in place of bare concrete and overgrown weeds, a thriving urban lagoon, surrounded by cafes, bars, local businesses and a market hall, fills its formerly unloved space.Īt first, however, the Milanese were sceptical of the dock’s re-opening, according to Mirta Oregna, a rower from Canottieri San Cristoforo, a local club on the Naviglio Grande. It lay largely unused until 2015, when it was completely renovated for the Milan Expo. Once one of the busiest ports in Italy until it was decommissioned during the rapid urbanisation of the 1960s, this harbourside area was nothing more than overgrown swamp on my initial visit. The Darsena (meaning "dock" or "shipyard") sits at the meeting point of two of Milan’s last canals, Naviglio Grande and Naviglio Pavese. There was a new energy around Navigli, and it was flowing from the Darsena. It wasn’t until I returned last year, this time to live, that I realised the significance of the canals and saw the growing movement to re-open the rest of these historical channels. Unlike Italy’s other great cities, there is no ancient Centro Storico district in Milan, but Navigli felt like a different sort of old town. Back then, I remember being charmed by the slow-paced waterside lifestyle, far removed from the frenetic city centre. When I first visited Milan in 2013, I was instantly struck by Navigli. Today, the lock is a curious sight: two sets of large wooden gates, frozen slightly open, useless without water, in the middle of Milan. Some vestiges still remain in the city centre, such as the Incoronata Lock at the end of Via San Marco. ![]() ![]() For the most part, the canals are still there, covered over by new roads and buildings. ![]() The rest fell victim to modernisation during the mid-20th Century as automobiles and trains replaced boats as the fastest modes of transport, The Inner Ring was buried under concrete. Most of the last traces of this network can be seen in Navigli, and in the north of the city, at the Martesana canal. At the network’s heart, the Cerchia Interna (The Inner Ring) and a series of smaller channels knitted the whole thing up. By the end of the 15th Century, Milan’s canal system connected the city to the River Ticino (25km to the west) and the River Adda (35km to the east). Between the 12th and 17th Centuries, a network of navigli (canals) was developed in order to grow the landlocked city’s wealth and influence. Yet, Milan, one of the wealthiest cities in Europe, has none. Berlin was built around the banks of the Spree. ![]() Think of almost any major inland city and there’s a big river to go with it. Yet this small corner of the city has a much bigger history although not widely known, Milan’s centre was once traced with waterways, not unlike those of Venice or Amsterdam.
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