Giardini della Guastalla

Sunny days and clear skies so blue you didn’t even think it could be possible in Milan have begun and you get the irrepressible urge to close the door on winter and your laziness and recharge your batteries with every hour of available daylight. The Giardini della Guastalla are just the place for you: if you’re tired of being in the library, if you’ve become neurotic from tribunal hearings, or if you want to go for a walk after visiting a brand new nephew who was born at the Mangiagalli, you will find just what you are looking for here.

This is one of the smallest yet oldest parks in Milan, founded in 1555 on initiative of the Countess of Guastalla – Paola Ludovica Torelli – who, after being widowed at a young age, founded a monastery here for young deceased nobles. In 1937 the park was expropriated by the City, annexed with Parco Sormani and in 1939 it became public.

The garden is adorned with tall stemmed plants of great value, catalogued and cared for by green volunteers. Its beauty is enhanced by a fish bath from the 1700s, with carp and red fish that swim about careless of visitors’ eyes, there are also statues in marble and in terracotta and a series of benches where you can take a break in peace. Nonetheless, there is a play area for children next to which great games of bocce are disputed. Just talking about it we get the urge to challenge one of the peppy gentlemen: who would no doubt give us a run for our money!