#wccscotland - the darsena re-opened

A short historical excursus

Passing by the last bridge, the Naviglio reaches a placid expanse of water: the Darsena (dockyard), in which the thin bell tower of S. Eustorgio and the arch of Porta Ticinese are reflected. Here are the most important hydraulic works of the city, true milestones of that science that so flourished in Lombardy during the age of the city-state and that of the Signoria, and in smaller measure during the time of foreign dominations.

The Darsena (Dockyard) of Porta Ticinese G. C. Bascapè “Il Naviglio di Milano” The Naviglio of Milan, Cisalpino - Goliardica, Milano 1977

What is the Darsena (Dockyard) of Porta Ticinese?

The Darsena of Porta

Ticinese is the meeting point of the Milanese Navigli: into this basin the Naviglio Grande flows and ends under the bridge called “Ponte dello Scodellino, and here is also where the Naviglio of the Martesana ends, along with the inside Naviglio and the Naviglio of Pavia instead begins under Trofeo’s bridge.

(G. Codara, “I Navigli della vecchia Milano”, The Navigli of Old Milan, Virgilio Ed., Milano 1977 )

Map of Milan – Daniel Stoopendal 1704

A short historical excursus

Before the radical reform

effected in 1919-1920 by the Port Authority of Milan, the Darsena was a basin about 400 meters long, with a width from 28 to 68 meters, a depth under the water that in its lowest state varied from 1.00 to 1.20 meters, bordered by two wharfs held up by walls of a width of 4 to 5 meters each, and developed toward the city at the foot of the rampart walls, from the customs house of Porta Ticinese.

(G. Codara, “I Navigli della vecchia Milano”, The Navigli of Old Milan, Virgilio Ed., Milano 1977 )

Map of Milan 1884

A postcard of the end of XIX century

A statistic from 1842 tells us that in that year 8,417 boats passed through Milan, not including

the ‘coaches’ or ‘ferries’ for passengers, and that the goods transported were very varied.

A postcard dated November 18th, 1901

Between 1830 and 1900, the average tonnage for our Navigli was 350,000 tons annually, with 8,300 boats.

The Darsena in beginning of XXth century

With the Twentieth century, Lombard navigation signaled a period of decline that reached up to 1921, but from that point on, traffic started up again, reaching 500,000 tons in the Darsena (dockyards) in the last years before the war (WWII), even though the tribute of the Martesana no longer reached that port, that settled at Crescenzago and at Gorla.

G. De Finetti, Milano, “Costruzione di una città” “The Building of a City”, a cura di

G. Cislaghi M. De Benedetti P. Maramelli, Etas Kompass, Milano 1969

“The Lombard Navigli (“L’Illustrazione italiana,” September 2, 1945)”

The Darsena in the ’50s

The last barge loaded with sand reached the Darsena in the autumn of 1975. The commercial navigation on the Naviglio Grande toward Milan, still performed without motors and going along with the current, was definitively abandoned in that year. Still for some time, on the shores of the widest expanse of water in the city (Milan boasts in addition to the Darsena, the little lake of San Marco, the little port of Santo Stefano and the little basin of Viarenna), they continued to deposit goods no longer transported via water but via land.

E. Malara “La Darsena Di Milano

Oggi e Domani” in I Navigli The Darsena of Milan

Today and Tomorrow in I Navigli, a cura di R. Cordoni, Celip, Milano 2002

Nevertheless, a few years later, even the facilities and port equipment on the shore bordering on Viale Gabriele D’Annunzio were demolished and taken away, and the Darsena remained without a function, an “urban vacuum”, an expanse of water frequented only by a few haggard fishermen.

E. Malara “La Darsena Di

Milano Oggi e Domani” in I Navigli The Darsena of Milan

Today and Tomorrow in I Navigli, a cura di R. Cordoni, Celip, Milano 2002

The Darsena in the ’50s

Recent years

2004

After years of neglect

use and

abandonment

the Milan City

Council announces

an International

Design Competition

Aerial view of the ‘90s

The Darsena at that time

administrative troubles &

10 long years of

abandonment

Drawings from the winning project – Bodin & Associates Paris

2014

Finally at work

Thanks to

EXPO2015 Milan

got funds for

infrastructural

works and

dedicated part of

them to its

waterways and

the Darsena

Works lasted

about 18 months

April 26th, 2015

Finally opened

On April 26th, la Darsena was finally reopened in its new look after 18 months of intense work: the final chapter of a troubled history that characterized the area in the last decade.

History of projects approved and subject to reviews, works commenced and not concluded, administrative appeals, surveys of historical artifacts found in the area, multiple creations of weak but noisy committees both “for” and “against”, the birth of an original ecosystem of fauna and flora, partial loss of awareness of the historical significance the port from the citizens.

April 26, 2015

The "Darsena effect”

80,000 registered visitors on

the re-opening day,

Events

“EXPO 2015

in città”

A seson of events 6

months long

May – October

2015

7 pontoons

equipped for

events

equipped platforms on mobile / floating pontoons in the Darsena & the Cube

equipped platforms on mobile / floating pontoons in the Darsena

4 pontoons for

private sponsors

• Conditions

detailed in a

“public call for

private sponsor”

electricity, water,

cleaning&securit

y services

guaranteed

Advertising and

commercial

activities

authorized

The CUBE

With the aim to support the communication initiatives of EXPO in CITTA’, of particular impact was “the Cube” - located on water and soon became one of the symbols of the area for its impact and high visibility.

The Cube consists of a led wall on all four visible vertical sides (dimension 8m x 8m) and placed on a special floating platform, with direction by remote.

On hourly basis, the contents were divided into 60% of institutional and cultural content (programmed by Navigli Lombardi) and 40% in commercial content available to the sponsor which build and operate the installation.

Thanks to the Cube, complementary activities were also carried out such as live video events from the EXPO2015 site, press conferences and events from the floating platforms and so on.

An opportunity given to territories

exceptionally for free only during the EXPO

but

the economic value of private advertising is:

1h a day divided in short videos of 60 seconds

(between 9am and 11 pm)

for a minimum of 15 days > €35.000

Some data

• 50,000 attendance for the inauguration on Sunday 26th April;

• 20,000 of the parade "None touches Milan";

• 120,000 of the three-day boat-show “NavigaMI”;

• 15,000 music event of Emis Killa

Hundreds of people

every evening for

the SKY TV show

Total amount from private sponsores in 2015 for activities in Darsena

> € 750.000

Festival

Lands and Colors of Lombardy

Promoting territories

Festival

Lands and Colors of Lombardy

LANDS AND COLORS OF LOMBARDY

Platforms dedicated to public bodies has been used by

n° 34 public bodies,

n° 12 of these are part of the Navigli System:

Parco Lombardo Valle del Ticino (3 weeks)

Regione Lombardia DG Culture e Autonomie

Adamello Ski

Comune di Segrate, Castione della Presolana,

Coldiretti Pavia

URBIM

Comune di Legnano

AEF / Enaip Lombardia

Protezione Civile Regione Lombardia

Teatro Ponchielli di Cremona

Associazione Salute e Donna Onlus

General Directorate Culture and Education EU

AIPO – Agenzia Interregionale per il Fiume Po

CIA – Confederazione Italiana Agricoltori

Parco Adda nord

Movimento del Vino “Calici sotto le stelle”

Chess Projects ASD

Pavia Sviluppo

PARTNER OF NAVIGLI SYSTEM:

Comune di ZIbido S. Giacomo

Comune di Buccinasco

Comune di Bernate Ticino

Comune di Pavia

Comune di Cuggiono,

Comune di Robecchetto con Induno

Comune di Gaggiano

Comune di Trezzano sul Naviglio

Comune di Cassano d’Adda

Consorzio Bonifica Est Ticino Villoresi,

Parco Lombardo della Valle del Ticino

Coldiretti Pavia

FURTHER EVENTS LCL:

EVENT “THE SILK ROAD” by CCIAA MI with a delegation of Chinese entrepreneurs,including a Press Conference and informal dinner

Concert “Orchestra di fiati della Valtellina”

Press Conference “Natural Parks International”

Press Conference “Opera Lombardia” + live show

Press Conference DG Agricoltura (Festival della Mostarda di Cremona e Mantova)

Press Conference DG Culture – Odyssey project

business up from

30 up to 50

percent for the

150 shops of

Ticinese (the

Navigli area) from

the canals as far

San Lorenzo

Columns;

revenues up to 25

percent for the

operators of the

new covered

market

Expo in Città and related impact on the area

some data

• "Five million visitors to the city in early May to late

July. Over 41 thousand appointments in the city and its

hinterland, which will continue until October. And a

positive trend of economic results for the city.

• At the end of the first trimester, ExpoinCittà makes an

initial assessment: the program of events created by

the City and the Chamber of Commerce to

"accompany" the half of the Universal has already

achieved a first result: BIE, the body that oversees all

'organization of the Expo, has asked Milan to be able

to reuse the format in future editions of the event:

• "ExpoinCittà a bet is won by the team: the numbers

confirm the validity of an innovative project that

embraces not only the center": the mayor Giuliano

Pisapia toast to the numbers of mid-term and It

responds to criticism that merchants - especially

restaurant owners - have done in recent weeks."The

data are reassuring, ExpoinCittà did get to Milan many

tourists, though there were some initial difficulties have

been overcome, although there is a fact to consider:

the gathering places have changed, just think of the

Darsena, so there is who has reached and exceeded

the targets and who maybe not, but the overall

increase is significant, " added the mayor."

• “Over 200 thousand people during the four major events in the first two months of the new marina; business up from 30 up to 50 percent for the 150 shops of Ticinese (the Navigli area) by the canals to the Columns; revenues up to 25 percent for the operators of the new covered market. If you measure the euphoria of the city from 26 April onwards is possible, the only indicator used is the number of admissions "

• Those data are following the 50,000 attendance of the inauguration; the 20,000 of the parade after the devastation of the 1st May Day "None touches Milan"; 120,000 of the three-day fair NavigaMI, 8 to 10 May; the 15000 concert of Emis Killa

• From the new covered market of Ticino, the former trustee, the butcher Serrandrei Adriano, one of the 20 operators exults: "The market is back livable, the area is cleaned up, we feel more confident - he explains - the spaces are new and growing business . We have fewer customers who shop but greater purchases." Only 5 or 6 complain. "With the end of a year and a half for jobs we lost regular customers. And there are no parking spaces. "

• Michele Berteramo, Epam, also vice president of the Pavese Canal Association: "The first month was a great boom, business is back to pre-crisis levels, we are a happy island unlike many colleagues in other areas. The second month went a bit worse. Now on with the pedestrianization Even residents understand - he concludes - that "turning on the light" security gains

• (source “Corriere della Sera” 15 Jube 2015 “Fenomeno Darsena, due mesi tra folla, affari e proteste” Giacomo Valtolina”

The Darsena Christmas Village

Some data

Santa Claus: 71.512

tickets (kids and

adults)

Santa’s boat: 18.742

tickets

Ice Skating: 20.567

tickets

TOTAL attendance in

the area in 1 month

(including 20

temporary shops)

700.000

What in 2016?

A year dedicated to sports

A year dedicated to sports –

UEFA European football championship


Summer Village

A year dedicated to sports – Formula 1 Monza GP & Martini Racing - Williams

A year dedicated to sports … & relax

A year dedicated to sports & relax

Summer Village

Next steps:

- Reopening of the navigable route “Milano / Lake Maggiore”

The “marble route” in a tourist perpsective

- The Darsena as a logistic hub of clean mobility for the area

A project idea suggested by the “Stadsleveransen” experience, the innovative delivery system transforming Gothenburg's roads

You can find more pics here https://www.facebook.com

/navigli.lombardi/ photos

Thank you!

See you again in Milan,

Claudio

https://www.facebook.com/navigli.lombardi/photos




#wccscotland - the darsena re-opened

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