The Canals “I Navigli” in Milan

Milan has a deep, unsatisfied dream: to reunite with the sea through the Po River. This desire was made a reality in the 12th century with the construction of a complex network of basins and canals known as the Navigli, which were used for open navigation. Thanks to these wondrous works of water engineering, Milan made its dream to become a city on water a reality, which played a very important role for irrigation, trade, transport of goods and passengers, and even for amusement.

For centuries, Milan was a city to be travelled by water, similar to Venice, with a ring of canals and little ports: the circle of the Navigli and the lakes of St. Stefano (nowadays Palazzo S. Stefano), St. Marco (today Piazza S. Marco), and St. Eustorgio (which then became the dock of Porta Ticinese). Now the circle of the Navigli is a road that encloses the historic centre of the city. Originally, however, it was the location of the moat of the medieval city, created in 1156 by Guglielmo da Guintellino, a military engineer from Genoa. Fed by natural springs, of which there are many in Milan, the moat assumed other functions: transporting goods, thanks to the basins, propelling mills and waterwheels (for the weaponry workshops; this is how Molino delle Armi – Arms’ Mill – got its name) and even for use as a sewage system.

Walking along the course of the Navigli, which were covered for hygienic and traffic reasons in the 20s, you can see a few of the ancient gates of the city (Porta Ticinese, Pusterla di Sant’Ambrogio, Porta Nuova), some large buildings (l’Università Statale, the former Ca’ Granda Major Hospital, Palazzo Sormani, Archivio di Stato, Castello Sforzesco) and some important churches (St. Ambrose, St. Lorenzo, St. Nazaro, St. Marco).

Today, the neighbourhood of Navigli, with the dock of Porta Ticinese and the urban section of Naviglio Grande and Naviglio Pavese, is characterised by many lively fashion stores, local restaurants, and art galleries, and its frequent visitors include artists, fashion models, musicians, and young university students. It also offers some more romantic locations, such as Vicolo dei Lavandai, a national monument with the old stone washtubs.

1 - LA DARSENA

The Darsena – harbour – is at the point where the Naviglio Pavese and Naviglio Grande canals meet. It was once an important node for water-borne transport and trade.

Located near Porta Ticinese, it occupies the space in which the Laghetto di Sant’Eustorgio was once located, receiving its names from the nearby basilica.

Furthermore, the Darsena, once connected to the circle of the Navigli, constituted the joining ring with a water circuit, which was for centuries the main channel of supplies, transportation, and commercial traffic in the city.

Today it is the hub of the Navigli neighbourhood, with music locales, restaurants, pubs, traditional osterie, little markets, and antique fairs on weekends.

There is currently a plan of redevelopment for the area of the Darsena.

The area of Porta Ticinese and Corso San Gottardo contained a neighbourhood founded in the 1600s that had a courtyard house. This type of building, still visible in some parts of the neighbourhood, is called a “banister house” because one entered into these houses through the galleries that are visible from the floors above the façades. The ground floor, rather, was usually occupied by stores and shops, especially by cheese makers, who used it to make and preserve their cheeses

2 - NAVIGLIO GRANDE

It derives from the Ticino river, and runs for 49,9 km between Tornavento, in the comune of Lonate Pozzolo, and the Darsena of Porta Ticinese. It has no basins, because it takes advantage of the natural slight slope of the land.

In the 12th century, right after the victory of Milan against the Emperor Barbarossa, its construction began in the land between Milan and Gaggiano, so that it received the name “Naviglio of Gaggiano.” It was completed when it became navigable from Gaggiano to Milan, as early as 1272.

Sailing on the Naviglio Grande, like on the other navigli, was carried out using barges with a flat bottom (they were called cagnone, mezzane, and borcelli), and it was rather easy to go downstream. Going upstream was a bit more difficult, for it required horses, and sometimes even men, to pull the barges along the road, known as the alzaia.

Along the outer-city area of the Naviglio Grande, you can find city features and beautiful residential buildings with shady gardens, which were once pleasant vacation spots of the noble Milanese for centuries. Among these, you can find Villa Gandini a Robecco sul Naviglio, also known as Villa Gaia due to its use as a playground back in the times of Ludovico il Moro, as well as the Villa Mainer a Cassinetta di Lugagnano from the 1700s.

3 - VICOLO DEI LAVANDAI - NAVIGLIO GRANDE

In the heart of Milan there are small cities within a city; gems preserved from the past, sometimes tucked away, whose hidden locations add to their appeal. They are fragments of a former existence that, once rediscovered, reveal unexpected charms that enchant visitors.

With a touch of nostalgia, the Vicolo dei lavandai recalls the city of Milan in a more romantic era, the so-called “good old days". Set on the Naviglio (artificial canals) near the Darsena di Porta Ticinese (dockyards), the historical alleyway takes its name from an ancient laundry that is still in existence. A place where, as recently as the ‘50s, many women service washed for the Milanese public.

The narrow roads and the presence of the canal have kept at a distance the crowds and traffic that inundate other areas of the city. The presence of the Naviglio with its bars and characteristic shops, the variety of styles, eras and buildings for a multiple of purposes, all serve to make this part of the city particularly charming.

Nowadays, the premises of the previous grocer’s shop that sold soaps and bleaches to the workers in the laundry has become the Ristorante El Brellin which, with its fireplaces and wood paneled ceilings, has maintained intact the special atmosphere of the location.

The laundry could be considered as a type of monument that bears testimony to the hard labour of the washerwomen.

Oddly, the alley is named after the male not female laundry workers because in the 19th century it was always the men who were employed in the washing service, organising themselves into an authentic workforce.

In fact, the confraternity of the Lavandai di Milano dates back to 1700. Saint Antony of Padua is their patron saint and there is an altar dedicated to him in the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie al Naviglio, about 100 metres from the Vicolo dei Lavandai, on the Alzaia Naviglio Grande.

At number 6 in Vicolo dei Lavandai one can still find the spinner from the beginning of 1900, when washing machines had yet to exist.

The stream (“el fossett” in Milanese dialect) is fed by the Naviglio Grande. Once upon a time the washerwomen, with their buckets, brushes, soap and beach would kneel on the wooden brellin (kneelers) scrubbing their clothes on the stone stands which can still be seen in the alley. The detergent used by the washers was called a palton, a semi dense paste with a base of ashes, soap flakes and washing soda.

The unique atmosphere of the location has inspired many writers and historians of the vecchia Milano, including poets who have dedicated their verses to this corner of the city. The most memorable one being the “Vicol di Lavandee” by Luigi Cazzetta, which won the Carlo Porta prize. The public gardens of Piazzale Gorini are also dedicated to Cazzetta, famous Milanese poet

4 - CHURCH SAN CRISTOFORO – NAVIGLIO GRANDE

The church of San Cristoforo is located in the characteristic canal district, on the Naviglio Grande. It is noteworthy for the fact that it is a good example of Lombard architecture.

The complex consists of two buildings, a Romanesque section built in 1250 while the canal was being excavated, and another Gothic section known as the “Ducal Chapel” because it was built by Gian Galeazzo Visconti between 1398 and 1405, as a vote of thanks for the victory over the French.

Some of the structures built to join the two sections can still be seen. In 1625, the wall dividing one section from the other was demolished to create a single building with two naves. The façade of the Romanesque section has a portal in traditional Lombard terra cotta, added in 1398, with a Gothic rose window above, and the emblems of the Visconti and the city of Milan.

The two arches connecting the nave of the older church to the other are also interesting, and likewise the 14th century painted wooden statues depicting Saint Christopher and Saint Joseph with the Child.

The church of San Cristoforo, and in particular its 15th-century belltower, was considered as a lighthouse for the barges arriving from the river Ticino. In the Middle Ages, Saint Christopher was the patron saint of travellers, pilgrims and bargemen.

In the period around the festival dedicated to the Saint (25 July), a fair has been held in the church and along the canal every year from the time of the Visconti rulers (24 July 1428) right up until today. Many people arrive for this celebration in honour of Saint Christopher, patron saint of travellers, and also, in modern times, of motorists. During the fair, the priest blesses the cars of those present.

As regards the 15th century building, another story exists regarding its origin. It is said that Gian Galeazzo Visconti commissioned its construction as a vote of thanks involving the entire population of the city, following the end of an outbreak of plague.

The period of disease ceased, according to legend, through intercession by Saint Christopher, after it had caused thousands of victims in 1333.

5-NAVIGLIO PAVESE

The history of the construction of the Pavia Naviglio, which lasts 5 centuries, is rather complex and its creation saw so many interruptions that it is nicknamed the “failed naviglio”. Inaugurated in 1819 under the Hapsburgs, this naviglio was used as a navigable waterway until 1965, and today its boats, once used to transport goods, are anchored in the urban section of the naviglio outside the restaurants and bars that contribute to the lively night scene of the area.

The length of the Naviglio Pavese runs along several areas of historic and artistic interest: the Chiesa Rossa (Red Church), the Failed Conca, Binasco with its Visconti castle and the Certosa di Pavia.

The Failed Conca

The word “fallata”, which means “wrong”, is derived from the many failed attempts at finishing the construction on this conca due to the technical and financial difficulties encountered throughout several centuries, but above all to the failure of the Spanish government, which, in the 1600s, had to abandon the project near the present Conca Fallata.

This conca was finally finished in 1815 based on a structure similar to one designed by Leonardo da Vinci, which had originally been built 300 years prior and collected in the Leicester and Atlantic codices.

The Conca Fallata was upgraded in 2006 with the addition of a small hydroelectric generator that produces electrical energy by taking advantage of the 4.66 meter drop and the capacity to hold 9 m3 of water per second.

6 - NAVIGLIO MARTESANA

The Naviglio Martesana enters Milan on Via Idro, in the north-eastern outskirts of the city, and runs uncovered up until the locally-called Cassina de’ Pomm (via Melchiorre Gioia), where, since 1968, it continues its course underneath the street.

The story of this Naviglio begins in 1443 when the Duke of Milan Filippo Maria Visconti approved a project that had been presented by a group of illustrious Milanese citizens led by Catellano Cotta, ducal administrator of the monopoly on salt. These citizens wanted to divert water from the Adda to create a canal for irrigation, turning mills, and transporting goods.

It was Cotta’s successor Francesco Sforza, who was aware of the military and economic value of having a navigable canal in a strategic point during the war with Venice, that gave the go-ahead for the construction of the Navilio nostro de Martexana.

In 1496, under Ludovico Sforza (il Moro), this naviglio was connected to the circle of navigli near St. Marco, whereas beforehand it stopped at the Cassina de’ Pomm. It is thought that Leonardo da Vinci, who was at the time a guest in the Sforza court, actively participated in its creation.

Along the canal, there are some cycling roads that run from via De Marchi to Cassano d’Adda (30 km from Milan) passing by the Park of the Martesana.

The name “Martesana”, which derives from the area the canal crosses, was commissioned by Francesco Sforza even before work on its construction began in 1460.

Among the many patrician homes located along the Naviglio Martesana, there is the Palazzo Melzi a Vaprio d’Adda. Built in 1483 by Giovanni Melzi, its rooms once hosted Leonardo da Vinci. Here, da Vinci thought out his hydraulic projects and drew inspiration for some of his paintings from the local scenery.