Iraqi Martyrs of Freedom Park Victims of Terrorism former Martesana Park
Town Hall 2
Arrival: viale Agoldart, via Valtorta
Summer Schedule: 7:00 - 22:00, for more details see the section below
How to Get There:: bus 44 | 56
Area: 11.976,74 sqm
Year of realization: 1978
Designer: Technical Office of the Municipality of Milan
What to do at the park
- playground
- walk
- stop and relax
- run along the paths
- go cycling on the cycle path which, from via Padova and via Melchiorre Gioia, connects Milan with Cassano d'Adda along a 30 kilometer route along the towpath
- 4 dog areas
The park in brief
Located in the east of Milan, the Martiri park, formerly Martesana, runs along a stretch of the Piccolo Naviglio, which receives its waters from the Adda river.
The park, built in 1978, borders a cycle path that allows you to reach the Adda with a route of approximately 30 km along the banks of the Martesana. Equipped with an amphitheatre, it has groves with trees such as maples, cherry trees, white hornbeams, elms and paulownias with purple flowers which colour, in spring, the banks of the Naviglio.
The flooring is self-locking, natural stone and asphalt and the park is periodically monitored by Volunteer Ecological Guards.
The history of the Naviglio Martesana begins in 1441 when Filippo Maria Visconti authorized the creation of a canal which, using the waters of the Adda river, allowed the fields to be irrigated and the mills to be operated.
The creation of the canal was approved by Francesco Sforza and built in 1441. The Naviglio Martesana originally had the function of connecting the waters of the Adda with the fields and ended at Cassina de' Pomm. In the meantime, Francesco Sforza first and Ludovico il Moro then, including the strategic scope of the canal that ran along the eastern line of the Duchy, which had long been engaged in the wars against Venice, made it navigable. To also use it for military purposes, it was made suitable for the transport of goods and men and its route was extended to Milan, in order to connect the Adda to Ticino through the Naviglio Grande.
In 1496 it was put into communication with the internal canals, which in the meantime had all been made navigable, and the problem of the differences in height between the internal ditch of the Navigli and the Martesana was overcome through a system of navigation locks. Leonardo da Vinci also contributed to the hydraulic engineering solution, as can be seen from some drawings in the Codex Atlanticus.
Main tree species
- American maple (Acer negundo)
- silver maple (Acer saccharinum)
- sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus)
- Norway maple (Acer platanoides)
- tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera)
- hornbeam (Carpinus betulus)
- flowering cherry (Prunus cerasifera 'Pissardii')
- English oak (Quercus robur)
- Liquidambar styraciflua, black walnut (Juglans nigra)
- common elm (Ulmus minor)
- red oak (Quercus rubra)
- black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia)
- lime (Tilia spp)
Worthy of note are a solitary hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) and three Paulonies (Paulownia tormentosa) visible on the bank of the Naviglio Martesana.
Water and surroundings
Martesana canal
Arrival
- January and February: 8:00 - 19:00
- March: 8am - 00pm
- from April to September 8:00 - 21:00
- October: 8am - 00pm
- November and December: 8:00 - 19:00
Subjects:
Updated: 12/04/2023