Enrico Forlanini Park

Town Hall 4
Arrival: viale Forlanini, viale Corelli 
Working hours:: free access
How to Get There:: bus 38 | 73

Area: 543.000 sqm
Year of realization: 70's
Designers: Mercandino and Beretta

What to do at the park

  • 2 play areas
  • walk
  • stop and relax
  • run along i itineraries
  • go cycling, inside the park or along the parks in the eastern area of ​​the city (ex Martesana, Lambro park, Forlanini park, Idroscalo or Vettabia, Chiaravalle abbey and Monluè park)
  • life paths
  • covered bowling green with 2 lanes
  • football field
  • do sports at Saini sports center: swimming, athletics, tennis, football, rugby

The park in brief

The park, one of the largest in the city, is located to the east, along the Lambro river. It was inaugurated in the 70s and named after Enrico Forlanini, pioneer in the aeronautical sector, inventor of the hydrofoil and the airship. 

The park allows outdoor activities for all citizens: it has play areas for children, bowling greens; it is suitable for training for long distances for runners, it allows you to cycle along the avenues and, through a network of cycle paths, it is connected to nearby parks.  

Next to the park is the Saini sports center, with the athletics track, the Olympic and diving swimming pool, and the tennis courts.

The surface on which the park stands was included in the Teresian land registry of 1770 and the architects Mercandino and Beretta, in designing it in the seventies, respected and enhanced the agricultural vocation of the area, in contrast to the industrial city that was growing all around.

It has a harmonious design that sees the alternation of agricultural areas, single-species forests, both evergreen and deciduous, and large meadows.

The water is present in the form of canals and ditches, some of which are active in irrigating the fields and feeding the Salesina lake, a habitat for fish and birds and a former quarry that mixes groundwater with rainwater. The Lambro river flows on the west side of the park, not visible due to the high embankment. To the east the border is represented by the Idroscalo park, an area designed for seaplanes but immediately transformed into a recreational and water sports venue.

In the western area of ​​the Forlanini park, various agricultural activities are concentrated, thanks to which it has become part of the Southern Agricultural Park. Of its agricultural past and present, 11 farms remain, partly owned by the municipality of Milan and partly by private individuals. Worth mentioning are the Cascina Codovero, the Cascina Cavriano, with a tripartite portico and the dove with an olive branch in its beak, symbol of the Ospedale Maggiore, to which it belonged for centuries and until the mid-70s. Also suggestive is the Cascina Sant'ambrogio, with what remains of the apse of a XNUMXth century church, once owned by the nuns of Santa Radegonda.

In the park there is a local police unit with dog units.

The current area extends east to the municipality of Segrate and west to the Lambro river. The current park was designed by the architects Mercandino and Beretta as a monument to the Lombard countryside and as an "urban void" similar to "an immense theatrical space" where the scene of rural life is contrasted with the industrial one of the surrounding area.

The park was inaugurated in 1970 after three years of work which enhanced the centuries-old structure of the Lombard agricultural countryside, as it had been organized according to the Teresian Land Registry (1760). It was named after Enrico Forlanini (1848-1930), an experimenter in the field of airships.

The space has a simple design: composed of large agricultural areas, tree-lined and asphalted avenues, expanses of meadows located mainly along Viale Forlanini and the Eastern Ring Road and characterized by the presence of groups of trees of a single species, both evergreen and deciduous ; to the north-east is the Salesina Lake which, due to the abundant vegetation that surrounds it, represents a good habitat for birds and fish.

The creation of the park guaranteed the survival of some structures of historical and landscape interest such as the Codovero Mill and some ancient farmhouses.

In 2002 the "beech forest" was inaugurated in memory of the 118 victims of the Linate plane crash which occurred in October 2001.

In the park there are still eleven farmhouses partly owned by the Municipality and partly by the Codovero Mill.

Among the buildings of greatest interest are:

  • the Cascina Cavriano, with a tripartite portico and a fresco with a dove and olive branch, symbol of the Ospedale Maggiore
  • the Cascina Sant'Ambrogio, where the apse structure of a small 14th century church is still visible
  • the Beech Forest, created in 2002, and the sculpture "Infinite Pain" by the Swedish artist Christer Bordino in memory of the 118 victims of the plane crash that occurred at Linate airport in October 2001.

Main tree species

  • maples (Acer campestre, A. negundo, A. platanoides, A. saccharinum)
  • hackberry (Celtis australis)
  • Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica)
  • elms (Ulmus carpinifolia and U. laevis)
  • common plane tree (Platanus x acerifolia)
  • pines (Pinus strobus and P. wallichiana)
  • white and black poplar (Populus alba and P. nigra)
  • Cypress poplar (Populus nigra 'Italica')
  • oaks (Quercus coccinea, Q. palustris and Q. rubra)
  • sophora (Sophora japonica), lime (Tilia spp.)

Worth mentioning are a group of cedars, colored in cold tones, a columnar forest of hackberry trees and the recent beech forest, in memory of the victims of the Linate accident in 2001.

Fauna

On the banks of the pond there is abundant vegetation of cattail (Typha latifolia), which constitutes an excellent habitat for fish and aquatic birds.

Water and surroundings

The Lambro river (which runs along the west side but is not visible due to the trees and its very high embankment) represents the connection with the parks of the eastern belt of Milan and is an integral part of the history of the agricultural world to which the park is closely connected in his identity. Of some now inactive canals, only the mark in the ground remains, while others are active and constitute, together with the artificial canals, the irrigation system of the agricultural fields which are an integral part of the park.
On the north-east side there is the Salesina lake, fed by both groundwater and rainwater.

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Updated: 09/05/2023