THE DARSENA OF MILANO
with arch. Edoardo Guazzoni, arch. Paolo Rizzatto and J.F. Bodin
and with soc. D'Appolonia, Manens-Tifs, ing. E. Moretti, D.L. ing. P. Frezza
Thanks to the finished work at the Darsena, aspects which had been forgotten, buried under the banks, for a long time have been brought to light. These are the Ticinello, with its link to the gate of Cagnola, the sixteenth century bridge and the basin of Varenna which contribute, together with the new plan, to assert the character – even of a harbour – of this part of the town.
The result is a still realistic fragment of contemporary Milan, suitable and in conformity with the expectations bestowed here.
Milan has found its water again.
Together with the water, populations of water animals which had left this area during the works, have come back. Once again the city has its banks so that it can look out unto the big basin, unto the spectacle of the traffic and activities on the water. The slow time of its flow once more marks the enclosed space and is in contrast, beyond the new embankments, with the distant urban rush.
In a few years the new plants and the new vegetation will mature. Just as today it has been reopened, the Darsena may appear as if it had always been there. And it may appear, despite ourselves, open to possible and unforeseen transformations, to new openings which may extend their meaning to the whole city.
But, even from today, the new port has started showing its destiny by being able to return and reconnect, through the flowing of the water, to far places and to represent, inside the town, the territorial design - the Po, Mediterranean and Central European - of Milan.