Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Milan, August 30 2020 - The creation of a school garden is among the most effective and engaging educational opportunities for children and young people. Already today there are 107 active in municipal and state schools: 62 in nursery schools and 20 in nursery schools of the Municipality of Milan, 12 in comprehensive institutions, 9 in primary schools, 2 in lower secondary schools and 2 in secondary schools. State childhood.  

Among the educational gardens created in the schools of the Municipality of Milan, 36 were created and are managed with the support of professionals, 26 with the help of volunteers and 20 are completely 'do-it-yourself'.  

Precisely starting from these experiences and with the aim of educating on the value of nature and food from an early age and guaranteeing constructive outdoor activities - even more so in view of the reopening of this particular school year, which requires the identification of projects outdoors to deal with the Covid-19 emergency - the "Guidelines for educational gardens in Milanese schools" have been published by the Municipality of Milan: www.foodpolicymilano.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Linee-Guida-Orti-Didattici.pdf.  

All the most practical aspects are explained inside. From the costs (around a thousand euros, if you make use of the help of professionals) to the possible sources of financing, from the phases of carrying out the project (definition of the technical options, presentation to the offices, purchase of the material, training, preparation of the land, sowing, harvesting and production) to the different typologies (from the open-field vegetable garden to the one in the boxes, from the greenhouse to the orchard), up to the many successful experiences from which to take inspiration: 'MiColtivo' by Fondazione Riccardo Catella, 'Scuola nell' vegetable gardens' of the Rinnovata Pizzigoni Institute, the Montessori method of the Riccardo Massa Institute, the vegetable gardens in Via Padova of Legambiente Lombardia, those of the associations Quei dei Tredesin and Nonni amici, of the Scuola Rinascita, 'Orto indotta' of Slow Food and those full field of the San Siro Rotary Club. 

The idea behind the creation of the educational garden is that it becomes a stimulus for active learning. For this reason the project must bring together different subjects, such as science, mathematics, civic education, geography, literature and art. The implementation will allow children and young people to develop social skills, to strengthen group work and individual responsibility, to encourage dialogue and intergenerational exchange and will provide, especially to the older ones, elements for evaluating the sustainability over time of an initiative and the entrepreneurial aspects linked to it. Last, but not least in a city that also wants to rethink its times, is that the creation of a vegetable garden can teach the value of waiting for nature's times. 

Last autumn, the Food Policy of the Municipality of Milan, together with the departments of Green, Education and School Buildings and the Neighborhood Management, had launched the idea of ​​a handbook on educational gardens drawing inspiration from the virtuous experiences of teachers, educators and workers from many schools in the city. From here the guidelines were born, promoted together with the Cariplo Foundation, as part of the implementation actions of the Milan Food Policy, and created with the support of the Està - Economy and Sustainability research centre: they will be distributed to schools in the autumn, after the reopening.