Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Redevelopment in Niguarda with the contribution of the neighborhood committee and traders: installations and activities for adults and children

Milan, 13 December 2019 – Niguarda is preparing for a festive Saturday to celebrate Christmas and welcome the new Piazza Belloveso, redeveloped by the Administration as part of the “Open Squares” tactical urban planning project.

The Niguarda neighborhood committee and the Ascoart Niguarda tradesmen and artisans association - signatories of the "Piazza Aperto Belloveso" collaboration agreement, together with VAS Verdi Ambiente e Società ONLUS and Colorificio Sammarinese - are organizing an evening of art for tomorrow, of lights and music. “Green Christmas” will light up at 18pm, with the inauguration of the installations by Caterina Tosoni, an artist who works on the reuse of plastic and who will donate a Christmas tree to the square for the entire holiday period. Activities for adults and children will follow, with Christmas music, Santa's elves, panettone and mulled wine for everyone. The entertainment will also continue on Sunday.

Saturday's moment of celebration will be an opportunity to introduce the neighborhood to the face of the new square: the colors yellow, light blue and blue instead of gray asphalt, tables and benches instead of irregularly parked cars, Belloveso presents itself today as a new place of sociality in the heart of Niguarda, nestled between a school, a library, a garden and the church.

The intervention of the Administration, carried out as part of "Piazze Aperto" in collaboration with Bloomberg Associates and GDCI-Nacto and, as regards paint, of Colorificio Sanmarinese, is the result of discussion with the Niguarda neighborhood committee and the citizens and of the need that emerged for a place to live.

“A new square returned to citizens and children who from today can leave school in greater safety - declare the councilors Marco Granelli (Mobility), Pierfrancesco Maran (Urban Planning) and Lorenzo Lipparini (Participation) -. We listened to the area and created a project that adhered as closely as possible to the needs expressed, as always we will evaluate the impact of the intervention on the neighborhood in the coming months but we believe seeing this public space freed from cars and animated by so many people already represents an important result. We thank the Committee and the traders for organizing the festival”.

The main interventions were carried out with the aim of increasing the pedestrian space in favor of the safe usability of the square and allowing the installation of tables, benches and racks. In particular, the one-way system was established from via Bauer to via Sant'Agostino with the introduction of a speed limit of 30 km/h; intersections have been rationalized and new sidewalks have been created to improve pedestrian crossings, car parking has been regularized and two stalls for loading/unloading goods have been added; the area of ​​the first BikeMi station in Niguarda has been defined, which will be installed in the coming weeks; a parking space for tourist buses has been added on via Bauer which responds to the needs of the parish and the school in times of need with a free parking function for the remaining time.

And the “Open Squares” project continues. The competent offices of the Administration are working on the analysis of the 65 proposals presented by citizens, committees and associations to establish their degree of feasibility and identify the interventions to be carried out in 2020.