EXPLORING DA VINCI’S CANALS

Milano – Lombardia - Italia

WCC

2010 World Canals Conference Rochester 19–24 September

Inland Waterways International

Prof. Edo Bricchetti

I.W.I. Inland Waterways International Member of Council for Cultural Heritage 1

A CULTURAL HERITAGE The area around the Navigli is, today, a cultural heritage to be used to advantage, with its history, valuable works of art and natural reserves of great importance to the environment.

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LOMBARDIA

ITALIA

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THE NAVIGLI…yesterday THE NAVIGLI…today

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AN OPEN-AIR CULTURAL FEATURE: THE NAVIGLI In Milano and Lombardia, this truly vital water flows from the Alps into our rivers and canals. It heads for the major River Po and from there on to the sea. In Milano and Lombardia, there is a stage of this recurring cycle that water goes through which appears in the form of an open-air cultural feature: the Navigli.

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MAN AND NATURE The prosperity that Milano and Lombardia enjoy began more or less one thousand years ago and has, on the whole, solid, ancient roots. Indeed, it is true to say that this prosperity dates from when medieval monks began systematically draining the Po valley. The water was channeled, organized for irrigating the fields and laboriously bowed to the will of Man.

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THE NAVIGLI LANDSCAPE The Navigli landscape is a natural environment - greenery and fields, rows of trees, wild animal reserves - but it's an anthropic landscape, too.

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THE AREA AROUND THE NAVIGLI The area around the Navigli has preserved exceptionally fine evidence of buildings constructed during a period of a thousand years' collaboration. They are chiefly the abbeys built by medieval monks, often right alongside the canals they had dug: Morimondo, Chiaravalle, Mirasole and Viboldone.

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THE GENTRY AND SOCIETY However, it wasn't only the monks who laid the foundations for Milano and Lombardia's prosperity. Also the gentry, the families of the great civilian governors of Lombardia (the Visconti and Sforza families) called for the building of the most important Navigli and many other public works of great importance built alongside the Navigli.

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CASTLES AND CHARTERHOUSES Projects launched by the Visconti family include Castles, Charterhouses and excavations that proved decisive in making both the Naviglio Pavese and the Naviglio Grande navigable.

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LEONARDO DA VINCI The Sforza family summoned Leonardo da Vinci to Milano, to the court of Lodovico il Moro. Da Vinci did not just design hundreds of machines for work and entertainment or paint.

Conca dell’Incoronata

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THE ADDA VALLEY AROUND THE NAVIGLIO DI PADERNO He also set out the most famous illustrated notes with his Atlantic Code, left them to his friend Francesco Melzi in his villa in Vaprio d'Adda and, with the backgrounds of his Virgins, brought fame to the rocks along the Adda Valley around the Naviglio di Paderno. A short distance away, in Imbersago, there is still a ferry named after him.

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MAN AND LABOUR Since before the time of Da Vinci, the Milanesi and Lombardi have used the waters of the Navigli as a water-highway. For centuries, the Barchett of Boffalora and the Barchett of Vaprio carried workers and goods from the rivers to Milano through the net of canals. In town, the Barchett left from the Dockyard which, until the middle of the 20th century, was a real port in the Quartiere Ticinese.

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THE OLD PADERNO BRIDGE Over the centuries, the marble used for building the Duomo has always been brought to Milano via Navigli. When the railway was built, handsome bridges appeared over the rivers and canals: the old Paderno bridge still stands as a splendid work of engineering.

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CRESPI D'ADDA VILLAGE, UNESCO 1995 The power of the water was exploited by factories belonging to the Lombardia textile dynasties like the Visconti di Modrone or those belonging to the Crespi family. Overlooking the water is Crespi d'Adda, a small mill town which UNESCO has added to the World Heritage List in 1995.

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THE HOMES OF LOMBARDIA’S ARISTOCRACY The prosperity of the countryside, trades and industries has brought to the banks of the Navigli - taking advantage of the natural beauty of the areas – dozens and dozens of exquisitely designed villas.

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From Renaissance to baroque, neo-classical and eclectic style, have populated the banks and main roads, converging mainly on Cassinetta di Lugagnano, Robecco and Corbetta Naviglio Grande), Vaprio d’Adda, Cernusco sul Naviglio (Naviglio Martesana).

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ANYTHING BUT DETACHED FROM REAL LIFE. With their attractions for both the eye and the mind and their tempting features for healthy living, the Navigli in Lombardia are anything but detached from real life.

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Darsena di Porta Ticinese Naviglio Grande Bacino di San Marco Naviglio Martesana

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THE NAVIGLI ARE BECOMING NAVIGABLE AGAIN The Navigli run literally alongside Milano, the economic capital of Italy with its new Fiera (trade fair complex), at the centre of a triangle made up of the international airports Malpensa, Linate and Bergamo. Today, the Navigli are becoming navigable again and there is now a good number of cycle paths along the banks or between one canal and another.

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Continental wide scale mobility involving airports and highways can give way to a more gentle mobility using boats and bicycles.

Alzaia Naviglio Grande

Ponte dello “Scodellino”

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THE NAVIGLI TODAY

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TANGIBLE RESULTS The Lombardia Region authorities have introduced a far-reaching change in their own official activities, gradually relinquishing their role as technical-administrative managers of matters over which they had jurisdiction and acting only as planners, coordinators and verifiers, whilst delegating to others the task of turning their goals into tangible results.

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AN AREA TO GOVERN For this reason, they chose a territory, through which the Navigli of Lombardia flow, as an area to govern and develop to its full potential.

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A MORE GENTLE MOBILITY The tourist industry that is emerging is extremely important for the Milanesi and Lombardi who live within the green lung guaranteed by the Navigli. But for economic and geographical reasons, it could very well develop into international tourism, too.

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NAVIGLI LOMBARDI Scarl To ensure the success of this project, in December 2003, the Lombardy Region founded - together with the Provinces, Municipalities and Chambers of Commerce of Milano and Pavia, plus the Consorzio di Bonifica Est Ticino Villoresi - the Società Consortile Navigli Lombardi. Later 47 of the 51 municipalities on the canals, through which 5 of the Navigli flow, joined the Navigli Lombardi S.c.a.r.l.

President E. Errico Director: A. Meinardi Team: C. Repossi R. Russo

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Waterways Forward is a project developed under the European Union’s INTERREG IVC programme. It brings together 17 partner organisations from 11 EU countries plus Norway and Serbia. The Lead Partner is Stichting Recreatietoervaart Nederland (Dutch Recreational Waterways Foundation). The project runs for 3 years from 2010 to 2012. The main objective of Waterways Forward is to improve the management of regional inland waterways and the regions adjacent to them by promoting an integrated, sustainable and participatory approach, taking account of the multi-functional role of waterways. 17 partners Stichting Recreatietoervaart Nederland (Holland), British Waterways (U.K.), Voies Navigables de France (France),Venirigin Regio Water (Holland), Navigli Lombardi s.c.a.r.l. (Italy), Provincia di Ferrara (Italy), South Tipperary County Council (Ireland), Waterways Ireland (U.K.), Telemark Fylkeskommune (Norway), Lansstyrelsen Varmland (Sweden), Savonlinna Seudun Kuntayhtyma (Finland), VKKI (Hungary), Dunaujvaros Municipality (Hungary), SIRGA (Spain), Autonomna Pokrajina Vojvodina (Serbia), Vidzemes Planosanas Regions (Latvia), Gmina Brzeg Dolny (Poland). 27

THE NAVIGLI GRANDE, MARTESANA, PAVESE, BEREGUARDO AND PADERNO This Consortium is the organization through which the members intend to guarantee the protection, recovery, management and enhancement of the Navigli of Lombardia and the surrounding areas, undertaking all the tasks of a technical, administrative, legal and operational nature concerning the Navigli.

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SPECIFICALLY, NAVIGLI LOMBARDI DEALS WITH: • • • •

Managing matters concerning the granting of permission to use the waters and State owned areas of the Navigli and the collection of fees for the same. Coordinating the carrying out of salvage work on the Navigli. Enhancing the natural, architectural and cultural heritage thanks also to regional, State and European funding. Promoting tourism, leisure activities and the marketing of the territory.

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ROUTE CONCHE (BASINS) Departures are from Alzaia Naviglio Grande 4. During the first part of the trip, we'll see the Vicolo dei Lavandai, one of the many wash-houses along the Naviglio Grande. Next we'll head for one of the most important groups of buildings along the first stretch of the canal: the one that includes the church, the bridge and the wash-house of San Cristoforo.

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THE DOCKYARD Coming back and passing under the bridge that takes its nickname of "Scodellino" (small bowl), we'll enter the Dockyard which was once a fully operational port used for trading with Lake Maggiore, thanks to its 1,000 metre-long wharf equipped for mooring barges that made it one of the largest ports in the Mediterranean.

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THE DOCKYARD. THE LARGEST PORT IN THE MEDITERRANEAN

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A FULLY OPERATIONAL PORT

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THE NAVIGLIO PAVESE Then we'll cruise into the Naviglio Pavese which we'II follow as far as its first hydraulic device, the famous "Conchetta" lock. Since it was recently restored by the local regional authorities, we can see a practical demonstration of how it works.

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ROUTE “DELIZIE” (ATTRACTIONS) THE NAVIGLIO GRANDE This stretch, which flows outside Milano, links Cassinetta di Lugagnano to Castelletto di Cuggiono. Along this route, there are six different boarding stages and each location provides a different itinerary: there is a vast choice for lovers of Nature, art and the history of the territory around the Naviglio Grande.

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Consequently, each single trip covers only part of the stretch: depending on your point of departure, you will travel along a route, which, after 45 minutes, will take you back to where you boarded.

Villa “Gaia” Gandini

Palazzo Archinto

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THE FAMOUS PATRICIAN VILLAS Travelling up the canal, we come to Cassinetta and Robecco where we can see the famous patrician villas used by Milanese gentry as country homes including Villa Belgioioso, Villa Visconti Castiglioni, Villa Kretzlin, Villa Spirito and the magnificent Villas Gaia Gandini and Gromo di Ternengo.

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PARCO DEL TICINO Farther ahead is Pontevecchio di Magenta, home to the offices of the Parco del Ticino, the first regional park created in Italia. Then come Boffalora with its historic centre and square overlooking the banks of the Naviglio.

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Bernate Ticino with its ancient Parish church and lastly Castelletto di Cuggiono, a location that has undergone less change over the centuries.

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NAVIGLIO DI PADERNO (PARCO ADDA NORD) NAVIGIO MARTESANA

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WE HAVE A DREAM…

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…WHICH CAN BE TRUE

“ARRIVEDERCI” FROM MILANO - LOMBARDIA - ITALIA

? Exploring Da Vinci’s Canals

Inland Waterways International

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Panorama of Heritage Canals in Italy: Their Value as Heritage, Current Use and Abuse Edo Bricchetti, Milan, ITALY