This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)

This green area is among the largest in the urban area of Milan, stretching over some 75 acres at the end of Viale Certosa. The park was created after the renovation of the pre-existing Cascina Merlata, carried out as part of the urban regeneration project linked to EXPO 2015. Also the old chimney of the former Water Furnace was kept and restored, reminding us of the time when kilns were used with local clay and burned with the wood obtained from the surrounding groves.

A stream vertically runs across the park, mimicking the old hydrographic network used by local agriculture, and there are 18 different water plant species among which visitors can actually walk, taking their shoes off, of course. The maximum depth reaches 7.9 inches, and the flow rate is about 6.6 gal./sec.
Eleven steps were built along the path, to provide oxygen and create crystal clear sounds.

The park features a large central green area starting from the farmhouse and reaching the very Expo area. There are bicycle and pedestrian lanes for 11 km. The park and Cascina Merlata are the actual entrance to Milan from the “Aida cycle path” – the cycle route which links Northern Italy, connecting the Moncenisio Pass, in Piedmont, with Trieste, in Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
The park offers five children’s area, three spaces for dogs, several sports courts and a bowling alley.

Along the park avenues, 52 different species of plants grow such as European nettle trees and black locusts, while in the squares and in the parking lots there are some common exotic varieties like cherry trees, sophoras, tulip trees, American oaks, and sweetgums.

Some 12 acres of the former Gaslini nursery have been recently annexed to the park, thus adding some more 300 tall trees such as cedars, pines, firs, and broad-leaved specimens like maples, hornbeams, birches, beeches, and magnolias.

photo source:
https://vivimilano.corriere.it/altri-eventi/il-parco-di-cascina-merlata-si-ingrandisce/ http://www.cascina-merlata.net/il-parco/

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)