Which park is the best park for students in Milan?
Student life in Milan: it’s not only books and libraries, explore open spaces…A review written by foreign students in Milan
Written by: Maria Alejandra Contreras and Gerardo Navarrete
Being a student in the city of Milan is an absolute worth experience, but sometimes it is necessary to relax and make new friends, there is no doubt that one of the best places to make friends is in an open space surrounded by nature, all types of people doing their own activity and enjoying the views and spots. Thanks to some research on different websites such as “Milan, welcome city guide”, or “Most popular parks in Milano” and also based in our own experience, we were able to made a list of our top 3 parks in Milan for students:
- Parco Sempione
- Parco CityLife
- Parco Biblioteca degli Alberi
We are going to focus on these parks, where you get to see more students. Parco sempione, Parco CityLife, Parco Biblioteca degli Alberi, we visited them and interviewed some of the students to know the main reason why they like to spend their free time in these parks.
-Parco Sempione
Parco Sempione is known as one of the biggest and most famous parks in Milan. Because of its central location, just a 15-minute walk from Il Duomo, Parco Sempione is filled with not only tourists but a big part of Milan’s population. A big percentage of the people who visit the park most frequently are students, where they choose this spot to relax, study or hang out with friends. Nevertheless, you can also frequently see active people while doing some exercise, and grown-ups who decide to have a daily walk or just have a coffee at different spots. Inside the approximately 47 hectares this park has, you can find a whole variety of vegetation, an artificial lake, and even some animals like ducks. The variety of trees that covers this park is one of the main attractions to look at, this is what makes Parco Sampione so special compared to other parks in the city. In addition to this, this park also has distinctive sites to visit. For example, the Palazzina Appiani, Arco della Pace, Triennale Milano, and of course the Castello Sforzesco. Castello being one of the main attractions in Milan makes this park even more crowded over time and a must-visit place in the city.
-Parco City Life
The CityLife Park has three main different parts; it has residential, commercial, and business areas. The park is located in Piazza Elsa Morante a short distance from the old city center of Milan. The first area is the park where the gardens are, very big and green. In the park, you get to see the Hadid Residence and Libeskind Residences, and also the business towels Torre Isozaki, Torre Hadid, and Torre Libeskind. Lastly, there is the Piazza Tre Torri and the public park. It is a very modern park and the mall has plenty of restaurants and stores. You get to appreciate modern architecture with great views. Between classes, some students go to the shopping district to distract themselves a little, or to buy something; it also has a fitness area so many people go to workout there. Students go there to have breakfast, to have a walk after, also many people go to study at the mall food courts.
-Parco Biblioteca degli Alberi
The park acts as an urban connector, of cultural campus and botanical garden. It has many different paths that are drawn from different residential areas, commercial and governmental. A series of cultural, educational, social and commercial buildings are placed along the park. It is a new form of public park that has a variety of different trees and plants. The park represents a modern version of the Botanic Garden. It is located between Stazione di Porta Garibaldi and Stazione Centrale. It has very nice views, plenty of grass and space to lay down, it also has an outdoor fitness area, and thanks to the amazing views, it makes working out more appealing. There are swings, and a children’s playground so you get to see many families and little kids as well. Many students go there between classes to walk, do a picnic, read, study, workout or only to hangout with friends.
What’s the difference between the parks?
The parks have many similarities, all of them are beautiful, they have a very nice area to walk, and the three of them have some fitness areas for people who want to work out. It might seem like students go to the parks mostly for the same things, to go workout, have a picnic, to have a walk, hangout with friends and so on. But when we interviewed some of them, to ask why they chose that park between the others, we got to understand some small, but differentiated aspects that made that park a better option to go. We interviewed Maria Castelli, a student in Bocconi University and she mention the next characteristics that made the parks special:
- “Parco Sempione it’s a park where you get to spend more time, it’s way bigger than the others, it has more monuments and green areas so people go there with the plan of spending more time than the others in it, not only when they want to kill time between classes for example. If your plan is to have a night out, near sempione there are plenty of aperitivos, so if you go between 5–6pm you get to see a very nice sunset and then you can have an aperitivo and it’s very crowded with students.
- Parco City Life it’s not that big as sempione, so many students go to school near there (for example Cattolica students in campus buonarroti.) go between classes to rest, or to the shopping district, where you don’t get to see this area in any of the other parks. Also in this park you get to see more modern architecture, and indoor study places with free internet and air conditioner and you don’t get to see this in any of the other parks.
- Parco Biblioteca degli Alberi what makes this park more special and different from the other 2 is the botanical garden and the architecture itself of all the park is very different from the others. Is not that big as sempione, but it has very cozy places to spend time. The park looks more organized, clean and more green than all the others”
In conclusion, these parks might have similar characteristics, and the reason for students to go there might sound similar, but after interviewing some of them we get to understand that the three of them have special things that distinguish them from each other. We can conclude that the best park to hang out in is Parco Sempione . Being outdoors seems like a really good option if you are looking to expand your friend’s net worth while you enjoy the amazing sights Milan has to offer.
