Local Parks of Supra-municipal Interest - PLIS

Born on the initiative of each municipality in the Milan area, the PLIS - Local Parks of Supra-municipal Interest are of strategic importance in the policy of protection and redevelopment of the territory. From this perspective they are configured as elements of connection and integration between the urban green system and that of protected areas of regional interest.

The establishment of PLIS allows:

  • the protection of agricultural areas
  • the recovery of urban degraded areas
  • the conservation of biodiversity
  • the creation of ecological corridors
  • the valorization of the traditional landscape.

Although smaller in size than regional parks, PLIS represent an equally attractive element for nature enthusiasts and, more generally, for citizens of the metropolitan area.

The Media Valle Lambro Park extends for over 600 hectares along the course of the Lambro river, between the municipalities of Brugherio, Cologno Monzese, Monza, Sesto San Giovanni and Milan; it essentially represents the "hinge" of a green system on a metropolitan scale.

Through the lands of Cascinazza, the Media Valle Lambro Park connects from the north to the center of Monza and the Villa Reale Park; to the south it borders the park of the Via Adriano district and connects with the center of Milan through the Martesana Canal; to the west, it reaches a few hundred meters from the North Park through the park planned for the Falck areas; to the east, again through the Martesana, it connects to the Est Cave Park.

The Media Valle Lambro Park is therefore configured as the green connection of a complex system which, also incorporating the park system of Northern Milan, reaches a total territorial extension of approximately 3500 hectares.

The territory on which the Media Valle Lambro Park stands is complex; exploited and modified by an invasive industrial history (about 60 hectares is made up of former extraction quarries, as well as hills of foundry slag), presents the typical critical issues of congested urban areas as well as others, such as:

  • the hydraulic risk represented by the Lambro river, due to the presence of a territory in which the natural flooding of the river is amplified by erosion due to urbanization processes;
  • the danger represented by land pollution, also a legacy of intensive industrial exploitation;
  • the needs for a landscape reorganization of the "violated" territory, the mitigation of impacting plants and infrastructures, as well as the achievement of a sustainable level of quality of the river waters.

The Park is managed and promoted by the municipalities of Brugherio, Cologno Monzese, Monza, Sesto San Giovanni and Milan with a dedicated agreement, which represents an important governance experience and of which the Park is an integral part.

The protocol for the establishment of the Martesana Local Park of Supra-municipal Interest was signed in December 2015 between the Municipality of Milan, the Metropolitan City of Milan and 11 other municipalities in the hinterland (Bellinzago Lombardo, Bussero, Cassina de' Pecchi, Cernusco sul Naviglio, Gessate, Gorgonzola, Inzago, Milan, Pioltello, Pozzo d'Adda, Vaprio d'Adda, Vimodrone) with the aim of identifying the areas classified as "Local parks of supra-municipal interest in the process of being recognized or proposed", along the Naviglio Martesana. 

The establishment of the Martesana PLIS is due to the desire to protect, redevelop and enhance the environmental, agricultural and historical-cultural excellence of the area, despite the existing urban planning and functional complexities. A composite area, therefore, whose value is determined both by the presence of the historic towpaths of the Naviglio Martesana; both from the green spaces which, extending beyond the coastal border, guarantee the maintenance of the agricultural areas and the ecological network; both from the historical and cultural value of the architectural and hydraulic elements present.
 

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Updated: 08/08/2022