Associazione comitato per il parco Ticinello

The Associazione comitato per il parco Ticinello (Committee for the Ticinello Park Association) is a citizens' association based in Milan, Italy, dedicated to the safeguarding, promotion and public enjoyment of the Parco Agricolo Ticinello, an 88-hectare agricultural park on the southern outskirts of the city. According to its own account, the group was formed at the beginning of the 1990s out of enthusiasm for an innovative project that would integrate farming activity with public access to green space, in a suburban area heavily marked by the urbanisation of the 1980s and 1990s. The association has always called itself simply "the Committee" and has grown over the years while keeping its founding keywords: sharing, attention to human relationships, inclusion, and a determination not to be instrumentalised. The Committee operates the park's cultural and educational programme. Its website lists activities such as rural traditions, festivals, culture, education and courses, alongside projects on biodiversity, a communal oven (Forno), a pollinator inventory (Pollinventaio) and the "Progetto 26". It publishes guides to the park's wildlife — birds, dragonflies and butterflies — and organises seasonal events such as the autumn festival of the SEMiNA network, of which it is a member. It also maintains the historic Cascina Campazzo, a typical Lombard closed-courtyard farmstead at the entrance to the park, about three hundred metres from the Piazza Abbiategrasso metro station and four kilometres from Milan Cathedral, which hosts a photographic space and a rural kitchen. The association is a membership body with a statute (statuto), a board (direttivo), general assemblies documented from 2022 onwards, and a reserved members' area. It solicits public support and publishes the contributions it receives and how they are used. A turning point came in December 2015, when, after twenty-five years — "not all of them easy" — the entire 88-hectare park area became municipal property. The Committee describes this as the start of a new phase of accompanying the realisation of the park project. Its mission remains local and civic rather than commercial: to let Milanese citizens know, live and appreciate a genuine farm, a working agricultural enterprise and a territory rooted in its rural past, while creating opportunities for sociability and authentic relationships between people.

The Associazione comitato per il parco Ticinello traces its origins to the beginning of the 1990s, when a group of Milanese citizens came together around an innovative idea: to protect a stretch of farmland and green space on the southern edge of the city by integrating agricultural activity with public use. The area had been heavily affected by the urban expansion of the 1980s and 1990s, and the founders wanted an alternative to further construction. From the outset the group called itself "the Committee" (il Comitato), a name it has kept. Over the following decades the Committee grew, adding activities and occasions for citizens to discover and enjoy the park. Its self-described guiding words — sharing, attention to human relationships, inclusion, and a refusal to be instrumentalised — shaped a programme that mixes rural tradition with education, culture and nature. The park's centrepiece is Cascina Campazzo, a classic Lombard closed-courtyard farmstead with its buildings arranged around a central threshing floor, located at the park entrance roughly three hundred metres from the Piazza Abbiategrasso metro station and four kilometres from the Duomo. The Committee presents the site as a real farm and a working agricultural enterprise rooted in local history. A major milestone came in December 2015. After twenty-five years — which the association itself describes as "not all easy" — the entire 88-hectare area of the park became municipal property. The Committee framed this as the beginning of a new path: accompanying the realisation of the park project and continuing to involve citizens. In the years that followed, the association formalised its governance with a statute and an elected board (direttivo), held regular general assemblies (documented on its website from 2022 to 2026), and maintained a reserved area for members. It also developed specific projects, including biodiversity work, a communal oven, a pollinator inventory and the "Progetto 26", and joined the SEMiNA network of food-sovereignty and community initiatives, whose autumn festival it co-hosts. It publishes wildlife guides to the park's birds, dragonflies and butterflies, and documents the contributions it receives and how they are spent, underlining its transparency and its reliance on public support.

• 2022

  General assembly documented on the association's website (assemblies listed for 2022–2026).

• 2015

  In December 2015 the entire 88-hectare park area became municipal property after 25 years.

• 1990

  Group formed at the beginning of the 1990s as a citizens' committee for the protection of the Ticinello area.

A volunteer citizens' committee acting as steward and public voice of Milan's Parco Agricolo Ticinello, combining farmland preservation with open-air education and community life.

• Parco Agricolo Ticinello

  An 88-hectare agricultural park on Milan's southern outskirts, managed and promoted by the association.

• Cascina Campazzo

  A typical Lombard closed-courtyard farmstead at the park entrance, hosting a photographic space and rural kitchen.

• Wildlife guides

  Downloadable guides to the park's birds, dragonflies and butterflies.

• SEMiNA autumn festival

  Seasonal festival organised within the SEMiNA network, of which the association is a member.

1. 1Parco agricolo del Ticinelloparcoticinello.it
2. 2CHI SIAMO - Parco agricolo del Ticinelloparcoticinello.it
3. 3Associazione comitato per il parco Ticinello - Wikidatawikidata.org