by Daniela Gasparini
On May 1st we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the opening to the public of Villa Ghirlanda purchased by the Municipality of Cinisello Balsamo with a procedural courage and a strategic vision that I would like to remember.
Enea Cerquetti, mayor and Sergio Torsani, vice-mayor were two visionary and courageous administrators who knew how to look ahead… and despite the fact that the city was experiencing the migratory earthquake, they did not stop to respond to emergencies (which they did very well) but they thought about the city of the future with the purchase of Villa Ghirlanda, the launch of the North Park and the Bassini Hospital.
It was 1971 when Mayor Enea Cerquetti began negotiations for the purchase of the villa and in the book he wrote “The social services system in the 70s” he recalls: “… the agreement was announced to the press on 16 April 1972 and was based on the following mechanism: Fondi Rustici stipulated a subdivision agreement with the Municipality on the areas that it could already build on the basis of the current manufacturing program. The secondary urbanization costs of this subdivision would have constituted the first portion of value to be deducted from the sale price of the park and the villa. The urbanization costs of any further subdivisions would have been used for the balance, which in any case could also have been done with other means of the Municipality.
In the meantime, the rustici funds immediately handed over on free loan a vast portion of the park towards Via dei Ponti, it involved the area then used for political parties, the area on which a floriculture farm was working at the time and finally a portion of the park proper which it was fenced off with a net towards a part not yet acquired. The accessible part was opened to the public on 1 May 1972 with a big party. The preliminary negotiations took place in the winter between 1971 and 1972.
The immediate delivery and free use of part of the lot constituted a sort of pledge that Fondi Rustici delivered to the Municipality on the basis of trust.”
That initial agreement was perfected over the following two years, on 1 May 1974 the Villa and the entire park were opened to the public, both of which became the citizens’ heritage. Many wanted the Villa to become the representative seat of the Municipality but they found opposition from Mayor Cerquetti and his majority who instead immediately allocated the villa to cultural and social purposes. In fact, already in the summer of 1974 the park was used for concerts, theatrical performances and classical ballet.
The villa was partially open because it needed to be renovated, furthermore some families lived in the wing where the Museum is now located. When I became councilor for culture in 1981, the renovation work on the entire complex was still underway and the inhabitants of the south wing who occupied the second floor with entrance from via Sant’Ambrogio had not yet been moved.
I therefore gave my contribution so that the Villa consolidated what it had been agreed upon since the purchase: the most important cultural center in the city.
– The first intervention concerned the arrangement of the arena in which the Event Organization was experimenting with Cinema in the Park. The stage was built and the area equipped as a cinema. The new structure allowed the organization of many initiatives in addition to cinema: concerts, children’s theater during summer Sundays, political initiatives, etc.
– The second intervention was to transfer the dying library to the Villa, which had been placed in Via Monfalcone in an unreachable and unpleasant place. In a short time it became a point of reference, especially for young people.
– The third intervention was the opening of the music school on the ground floor of the south wing. The school quickly had more than 600 students and was subsequently moved to Balsamo before returning to its current location in Villa Ghirlanda.
– The fourth intervention was to dedicate the entire south wing to the Museum of Contemporary Photography.
– The fifth intervention was to furnish (finally) the Villa and improve the acoustics of the Landscape room on the first floor.
– The sixth intervention was to enhance the park by joining the network of historic Regis gardens.
With the opening of “Il Pertini” and the transfer of the library, a new season has begun for the Villa and its Park. Having more spaces available for initiatives and exhibitions, it was decided to use the cellars of the Villa to house the historical archive of the Municipality, thus highlighting the symbolic importance of Villa Ghirlanda.
Today the Villa is still the symbolic place of the city but it has lost its luster! The summer arena is underused, the Villa does not offer cultural proposals with continuity and distinctiveness in the Milanese panorama, the Museum is always waiting for the definition of its role in the national panorama, the Park is always a marvel but always seems unfinished… inconsistent games, closed and sad lake, greenery not always up to the prestige of the park.
So I wish Villa Ghirlanda and its wonderful park my best wishes for your birthday.
I hope that the administration, together with the associations and the city council, will open a debate on the future of the extraordinary cultural center that it has found itself managing and which requires a new strategic vision because the city has changed, the citizens are no longer those of 50 years ago and the needs of culture, training, aggregation and identity must be analyzed to give new impetus to the planning of a unique and rare system in the metropolitan panorama. Few, or perhaps only us, are lucky enough to have a cultural system made up of Villa Ghirlanda, the photography museum, “Il Pertini”, the music school, the Villa Ghirlanda park, the summer arena.
