Lambro Park

Town Hall 3
Arrival: via Feltre, via Casiraghi
Opening hours: free access
How to Get There:: M2 Udine | 19

Area: 773.000 sqm
Year of realization: 1936
Designers: Enrico Casiraghi; in the 50s Romano Beretta, Technical Office of the Municipality of Milan

What to do at the park

  • 1 play area
  • walk
  • stop and relax
  • run
  • ride a bicycle
  • life paths
  • percorso Disc golf
  • Lambrooklin skating and soccer field
  • Dogs must be kept on a leash except in marked areas

The park in brief

The Lambro park dates back to the architect Casiraghi who also built the Solari park in the same years. 
Dominated by the Lambro river which crosses it, the original park reproduced the alternation of the typical elements of the Lombard countryside, with its rivers, canals, waters in general and their typical vegetation, where green hills alternate with farmhouses and their cultivated fields.

The Second World War and the need for firewood compromised the original park, but not the underlying idea, since after the war, repopulated with trees, it continued to convey the suggestion of the Lombard countryside, where the dried-up lakes accentuated the undulating movement of the greenery and where cultivated land alternates with meadows crossed by long avenues. 

The agricultural component is maintained by one of the five Cascine, San Gregorio, which still cultivates fodder fields with water from the meadows. And of the ancient canals, two are still in operation, the Isola and the Molinara, both diversions of the Lambro river. The vegetation along the banks of the Lambro has remained suggestive, with the shapes and colors of the weeping willows, robin trees, ginko, black walnut, horse chestnuts, poplars, elms, magnolias.

In addition to the Cascina San Gregorio Vecchio, with a square courtyard, houses and barns, the Mulino Torrette farmhouse is worth mentioning, where there are two paddle wheels and the millstones, renovated and home to theExodus Association; the Cascina Cassinetta San Gregorio, with two renovated buildings; Cascina Biblioteca, headquarters of the Cascina Biblioteca social cooperative, of Consorzio SiR, ANffASS and Idea Vita, Cascina Mulino San Gregorio, headquarters of the GEV, the Volunteer Ecological Guards.

The flooring is in asphalt and natural stone. 

The park is surrounded by the Rottole, Cimiano and Feltre districts, borders the municipalities of Vimodrone and Segrate and is crossed by the Eastern Ring Road.

It was built in 1936 based on a design by the architect Enrico Casiraghi, with the aim of preserving and highlighting the Lombard landscape, taking advantage of the river of the same name with its canals and fountains and the lush spontaneous vegetation. The designer modeled the area through particular perspective views, created three artificial hills and two lakes (now drained and preserved as depressions in the ground) and designed a system of avenues approximately 4000 meters long.

Largely destroyed during the Second World War (the trees were cut down to obtain firewood), it was recreated during the 50s and 60s with the acquisition of new land and the planting of new trees.

Inside the Park there are agricultural fodder areas that retain the characteristic of "marcita" cultivation (an ancient cultivation method invented by the Cistercian monks).

In recent years the Municipality has promoted a campaign to enhance the area to restore its ancient role as the "rural branch" of the city.

In the park there are five farmhouses, of which only one has maintained its original characteristics and functions, the Cascina San Gregorio Vecchio. It is located in Viale Turkey, where residential areas, stables and barns are located around a large square courtyard. Then there is the Cascina Mulino Torrette, in via Marotta, which has been completely renovated and of which the two paddle wheels and the millstones of the mill still exist, headquarters of the Exodus Association for the recovery of drug addicts. The third is the Cascina Cassinetta San Gregorio, also in via Marotta, made up of two completely renovated buildings. The fourth is the Cascina Biblioteca in via Casoria, in operation until the 70s and now home to a community for the disabled. Finally there is the Cascina Mulino San Gregorio in via Van Gogh, headquarters of the GEV.

Main tree species

  • Tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera)
  • hackberry (Celtis australis)
  • Japanese flowering cherry (P. serrulata 'Kanzan')
  • bald cypress (Taxodium distichum)
  • beech (Fagus sylvatica)
  • ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba)
  • horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum)
  • red-leaved myrobalan (Prunus cerasifera'Pissardii')
  • American black walnut (Juglans nigra)
  • elms (Ulmus carpinifolia, U. laevis and U. pumila)
  • Cypress poplar (Populus nigra 'Italica')
  • black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia 'Bessoniana' and 'Umbraculifera')
  • American styrax (Liquidambar styraciflua)

The Volunteer Ecological Guards have created a botanical route to recognize the trees in the park. Worth mentioning for their considerable size are a Cypress poplar and a Canadian poplar, as well as an elm and a magnolia in the play area.

Water and surroundings

Once surrounded and crossed by water, currently only a few signs of ditches and canals remain. There are two in operation: the Isola canal, a diversion of the river which originates in via Licata, at the height of Capannina and re-enters the Lambro river at the height of via Van Gogh, and the Molina or Molinara canal, a second diversion of the river which it served to power the two mills that existed in the area.

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Updated: 26/10/2022