Giardini di Porta Venezia

The Giardini di Porta Venezia are situated in Milan, just a few yards away from Porta Venezia. Since 2002 these public gardens are dedicated to the journalist Indro Montanelli who used to often frequent the park.

The park was built at the end of the 18th century, during the reign of Giuseppe II, period in which it was decided that Milan should also have its green area accessible to all citizens. This is how, from a project designed by Giuseppe Piermarini, the public gardens of Milan were born. They were much smaller then with respect to the area covered at present.

Nowadays the Giardini di Porta Venezia have an extension of about 172,000 square metres. The area occupied by this green zone was enlarged at the end of the 19th century, period in which the parks began to be frequented by mothers with children, whilst before it had been an area almost exclusively reserved for adults. Presently, the Milan-based families are the regular visitors of these public gardens which are internally divided into different recreational areas dedicated to children.

Within the gardens one can find the Civil Planetarium and the Civil Museum of Natural History which constitute two more reasons to visit the park. The Planetarium was built in 1930 for want of Ulrico Hoepli, to whom the building is dedicated.