Trotter Park

Municipality 2

Arrival: via Giacosa, via Padova
Opening hours: Monday to Friday from 16pm to 30pm, summer time; Saturday and Sunday, summer hours: from 22:00 to 7:00 for more information, see the section below
How to Get There:: M1 Rovereto | bus 56

Area: 99.800 sqm
Year of realization: 1920
Designer: Giuseppe Folli

What to do at the park

6 equipped play areas
2 courts for volleyball, basketball and five-a-side football in the former swimming pool area
walk
stop and relax
life paths
theater and activities for schools organized by the "La Città del Sole" Association, see Friends of the Trotter Park onlus; for information, email: amicitrotter@gmail.com
2 dog areas

The park in brief

Surrounded by high walls that hide it from view, ParcoTrotter owes its name to the racecourse of which it was the city headquarters for more than a century and until 1924, when it was moved to San Siro.

The Trotter park means the House of the Sun, a Milanese outdoor school experience unique in Europe.

The Trotter was chosen in the mid-1920s to be the site of a school dedicated to frail children, potential victims of tuberculosis. For these students, cutting-edge teaching was provided, inspired by Dewey's pedagogy, which included outdoor activities, a theatre, a cinema, a farm, covered gyms and an outdoor swimming pool, the latter being the work of Luigi Secchi, the same architect who designed the local market in Viale Monza and the Cozzi swimming pool. Walking during the afternoon opening hours to the public it is still possible to see the Casa del Sole, the church, the boarding school, the water plant, the swimming pool and, at the same time, admire the cedars of Lebanon and the Himalayas, the horse chestnuts, Siberian elms, red oaks, a botanical heritage safeguarded by the fact that the park has never been entirely accessible to the city.

Of its ancient function as a hippodrome, which it fulfilled from 1800 to 1920, all that remains is the circular layout of the trotting track, which has now become the main avenue. Trotter Park is currently on the FAI list of Milan's Environmental Heritage, home to local associations and schools that continue previous avant-garde and integration pedagogical experiences.

For nature lovers, we note the presence of centuries-old trees, rare for their beauty and size, including the red oak, plane trees and cedars of Lebanon. Starting from the Trotter park, it is possible to reach other nearby public gardens, different in history, size and vegetation: the garden of the nineteenth-century Villa Finzi and the former Martesana park, now Martyrs of Freedom, and walk along the fascinating pedestrian and cycle path that runs alongside the Martesana Canal.

The schools present are: State Comprehensive Institute "Casa del Sole - Rinaldi"; "Casa del Sole" Primary and Secondary School; Primary school; Multimedia room.

The flooring is asphalt and concrete and there are numerous SOS columns in the park.

History and Architecture

The name of the park derives from the fact that it was the headquarters (1800-1924) of the Trotter Society. The area was used as a racecourse until it was moved to San Siro in 1924.

As evidence of this previous function, the layout of the trotting track in the wider circular avenue with stone benches remains. After the bankruptcy of the sports club, the area was purchased by the Municipality which transformed it into the special school "Casa del sole", with advanced pedagogical theories and intended for frail and tubercular children.

Based on a project by a municipal technician, engineer Folli, a pavilion system was built in close connection with the park and two covered gyms were built, a swimming pool which is still visible today, a theatre, a cinema, a small farm with animals and a church. The current layout is still the one designed in the 20s, with the ring shape of the hippodrome interrupted by the transversal west-east axis: Viale dei Platani.

In the 70s the special school became a neighborhood school and in 1991 the Municipality commissioned the Polytechnic of Milan to carry out a study for the naturalistic and architectural redevelopment of the area, which was concluded in 2002.

The park is currently on the list drawn up by the FAI of Milan's Environmental Heritage to be conserved and enhanced.

Architectural heritage and artefacts

In the park you can find the small church, the former boarding school and the former water plant.

Flora, water and surroundings

The park contains 53 tree species out of 172 of the entire Milanese heritage, including:

maples (Acer negundo, A. platanoides, A. pseudoplatanus, A. saccharinum)
ailanths (Ailanthus altissima)
tulip trees (Liriodendron tulipifera)
birches (Betula alba)
cedars of Lebanon (Cedrus libani)
Himalayan cedars (Cedrus deodara)
bald cypresses (Taxodium distichum)
beech trees (Fagus sylvatica)
mulberries (Morus alba), American sumacs (Rhus typhina)
ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba)
horse chestnuts (Aesculus hippocastanum)
Siberian elms (Ulmus pumila)
plane trees (Platanus x acerifolia)
swamp oaks (Quercus palustris)
red oaks (Quercus rubra)
black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia)
sophora (Sophora japonica)
lime trees (Tilia spp)

Numerous and imposing centuries-old trees, including: specimens of red oak (Quercus rubra), plane tree (Platanus acerifolia), cedar (Cedrus libani) and lime tree (Tilia tormentosa).

Water and surroundings

There are two bodies of water in the northern part.

Detailed timetables

Arrival

January-March: Monday to Friday from 16pm to 30pm; Saturday and Sunday from 19:00 to 8:00
April-June: Monday to Friday from 16pm to 30pm; Saturday and Sunday from 21:00 to 7:00
July: Monday to Friday from 16pm to 30pm; Saturday and Sunday from 22:00 to 7:00;
August: every day from 7:00 to 22:00;
September: Monday to Friday from 16pm to 30pm; Saturday and Sunday from 21:00 to 7:00
October, November and December: Monday to Friday from 16pm to 30pm; Saturday and Sunday from 19:00 to 8:00