Parco Sempione
Sempione Park is a green area in the city of Milan. Built at the end of the 19th century on the area previously occupied by the, it covers an area of, completely fenced and under video surveillance.
The name derives from, the road axis built in the Napoleonic era on the route of the historic Seprio road, with the new Porta Sempione heir to the.
History
Sempione Park stands where the Visconti ducal park called "Barcho" once was and is located near the Sforza Castle. It was enlarged and fenced by the Sforzas until it became over 3 million square meters wide. The park was a forest mainly composed of oaks and chestnut trees and also inhabited by exotic animals introduced by man.With the fall of the Sforzas and the Spanish domination, the park was abandoned and in 1861 a part of it was destined for agriculture. The area where Sempione Park now stands was instead used as a parade ground for the military stationed near the Sforza Castle. The castle was converted into a barracks, with consequent degradation of the structures.
During the Napoleonic era, the architect Giovanni Antonio Antolini designed the construction of a large building complex around the castle, baptized "Foro Buonaparte" in honor of Napoleon; the project was never realized, and in its place the parade ground was transformed into a large lawn for civic uses, adorned on the northeast side by the Arena Civica and on the northwest side by the Arch of Peace, the starting point of the Corso Sempione.
After Italy's Unification, the military use of the area ceased and at the same time a phenomenon of population growth began for the city, requiring the construction of new neighborhoods. A real estate company proposed to subdivide the castle area and the parade ground, similar to what was done on the area of the lazzaretto, but the proposal caused protests from the citizens, which led to the drafting of the first, drawn up by engineer, called the. This plan, which initially partially accepted the building ambitions on the area, was modified several times until the entire parade ground was destined as a public garden. For the castle, restoration and cultural use were planned.
The park, named "Sempione Park", was built between 1888 and 1894 according to the design of architect, which included carriage-accessible avenues, a lake, and a belvedere where the Sempione Park Library now stands. The greenery was designed according to the romantic model of English parks.
Subsequent interventions
Since its creation, the park has distinguished itself for its central role in the leisure time of Milanese people and for its close link with art: numerous exhibitions have been held in the park, including the, the Milan International Exhibition of 1906, and the triennial exhibitions starting from 1933 with the construction of the by Giovanni Muzio, today home to the Triennale di Milano.Among the significant buildings in the park, in addition to the Palazzo dell'Arte, stand out the Arena Civica, the pavilion of the Milan Civic Aquarium by Locati, and the Littoria Tower built in 1932–33 on the design of Gio Ponti, Cesare Chiodi, and Ettore Ferrari. Also noteworthy is the former pavilion for the X Triennale, now the Sempione Park Library, built by Longhi and Parisi.
Several sculptures, including the by sculptor Francesco Barzaghi and the works Storia della Terra by Antonio Paradiso, Accumulazione musicale by Armand Pierre Fernandez, and the by Giorgio de Chirico. Finally, the Ponte delle Sirenette by Francesco Tettamanzi, once on the naviglio in Via San Damiano and spared on the occasion of the covering of the Cerchia dei Navigli in 1930.
The park also hosts, near the Arena, a fountain of oligomineral water called Fontana dell'acqua marcia for the sulfurous smell that characterizes it. The fountain was built between 1925 and 1928 by the municipal technical office, which at that time was carrying out drilling to enrich the city's aqueduct flow, and is still active and frequented, although it has been classified "non-potable" because precisely for the oligomineral characteristic it was not considered appropriate to introduce it into the general drinking water pipeline of the city.
In 1954, on the occasion of the Milan Triennial X, two pavilions were erected inside the park, converted at the end of the event into a library, the, and the "".
From 1954 to 1969 the architect Vittoriano Viganò developed a park redesign project, which in the author's intentions should have been expanded to include Piazza Castello and the first stretch of Corso Sempione, burying all carriage roads. Of this project, only the pedestrianization of the area around the Arch of Peace and the first stretch of Corso Sempione was realized.
In 1996 the municipal administration decided to undertake an overall restoration of the park, the castle, and Piazza Sempione, where the Arch of Peace is located. The restoration included a new park fence, the remaking of roads, and a botanical and plant restoration of the park's flora.
In recent years, the space between the Sforza Castle and Sempione Park has become the site of continuous setups of various kinds. For carnival it hosts a amusement park which, in some way, represents continuity with the old Fiera di Porta Genova, which for years gathered rides and attractions along the banks of the. In January 2011, the park was the unusual setting for a stage of the Cross-Country Skiing World Cup, the last sprint event on the calendar, with one hundred and forty athletes participating.
The park is dedicated to the written by the group Elio e le Storie Tese and released as a single in 2008, although much of the song refers to events related to.
In 2014 the City of Milan pedestrianized the Piazza Castello area, modifying the cycle-pedestrian paths. This allowed the publication of a tender for the redevelopment of the area, with certain annexation to the Sempione Park context.
On May 23, 2015, a copy of Alberto Burri's "Teatro Continuo" was inaugurated in the center of the park, built for the 1973 Triennale and demolished in 1989 due to its degradation. Placed on the central axis of the park, which ideally connects the center of Milan with Sempione, it consists of a scenic structure reduced to the essential, always ready for use, a free venue, both for artistic activities and performances, and for independent use by anyone. Composed of a platform raised from the ground and six rotating side wings, it was created in 1973 for the XV Triennale and today, together with the Mysterious Baths by Giorgio De Chirico and the Musical Accumulation and Seat by Arman, made on the same occasion, forms an integral part of Sempione Park.
Flora and facilities
The flora of Sempione Park is very rich and varied and the have organized two botanical paths with the recognition of fifty species for school groups, who are also given a small illustrated guide for free.On the belvedere, in front of the statue of Napoleon III, there is an old monumental elm and a large horse chestnut grows near the "Little Mermaids Bridge". Among the other noteworthy trees a curious American plane tree on the bank of the lake's extension, two large Caucasian walnuts that reflect in the water mirror and weeping beeches near the Triennale garden. Several varieties of cedar: the Atlas, the Himalayan, and the Californian, then beautiful groups of red oaks, yews, bald cypresses, and lindens. Many varieties of maples: silver, box elder, field, mountain, and Norway. Still among the tall trees, we recall pines, beeches, poplars, horse chestnuts, holm oaks, and magnolias and, finally, the black alder, the black walnut, the ginkgo, and the sweetgum.
The redevelopment and restoration of the park between 1999 and 2003 enriched the presence of shrubby vegetation and its decorative functions; among other things, some species with winter or early flowering were also inserted such as Sarcococca confusa, witch hazel, loropetalum, winter sweet, and some varieties of mahonia and camellia. Among the spring and summer species, we recall the wide range of cornelian cherries, viburnums, hydrangeas, camellias, rhododendrons, azaleas, and old roses.
In the park enclosure there are eight equipped fitness trails, a basketball court in addition to a single large play area for children. Four fenced spaces reserved for dogs.
Popular legends
Among the Milanese legends, the ghost of the so-called Black Lady is noted: on foggy evenings, when Sempione Park is now deserted, one might smell violets and the spectral figure of the lady dressed in a long black dress and veiled in the face would appear. The woman, once a few centimeters from the passerby, offers her icy hand: those who take it are dragged into hidden paths of the park, into increasingly thick fog, until reaching a large villa. Inside this villa the Lady gives herself to the passerby, only after the man finds the courage to lift the veil, thus discovering a skull with empty orbits. The terrible discovery makes all men flee from the Lady in black, who never tries to hold them back, knowing that they would always return to look for her. According to the famous legend, all men victim of the Lady lose their minds and experience such strong love that it leads them to madness, spending their lives trying to find the large villa where they had danced with the dark Lady.Other legends tell the story of processions of desperate souls, recognized as ghosts of the Cathars, burned alive in Corso Monforte because considered heretics. There are also legends of women burned alive considered witches and of the Phantom of the Opera who haunts the La Scala theater, focusing on anyone who goes to attend performances without understanding opera music.