The Navigli

The charming history of Navigli begins in the second half of XII century, with the construction of the first navigable stretch. The first canal, Ticinello, was opened in 1179 and was 50 kilometres long. This canal gave the impulsion to build the Major Naviglio (Naviglio Grande). The realization of these canals demanded the work of important engineers of that time, and today is still possible to appreciate the genial sluice gate conceived by Leonardo da Vinci at the end of XV century. Ludovico il Moro asked da Vinci to project the system to consent the navigation from the Como Lake to Milan. During the years the Navigli were really neglected and in 1977 Italy asked the region Lombardia to take care of them. In 1980 an improvement project of the area began. Once the Navigli were very popular and they were a meeting point for street markets and little shops. Nowadays this is a very fashionable area, meeting point of models, artists, university students, who spend their nights going from on bar to an other. But the navigli atmosphere is really unique, maybe because near the fashionable clubs is still possible to find traditional workshops, or because the courtyards take live colours with the sunset light. Everywhere you look there’s something beautiful to see.