The official opening of the San Giuliano Park, Europe’s biggest green area, took place on the 8 of May this year. The events scheduled in the week-ends following the opening strenghtened the role of this area as a city’s public space, open to everybody.

It is a wide area of around 700 hectares located between Porto Marghera, the town of Mestre and Campalto. The openings towards the laguna and Venice on one side, and the near urban areas on the other side, point out what the future role of the San Giuliano park will be: a junction between two different realities which up to now were in contrapposition, both concerning their social-economic experience and for the cultural-recreational and leisure time experience.

The international call for bids for the project “A Park for San Giuliano”, which aim is to get together new ideas for the resolution of some of the problems concerning the city and the lagoon area, was presented in 1990 by the Venice City Council. The Plan for the San Giuliano Park, widely debated and promoted, has been approved by the City Council in January 1996 and a few time later has been introduced in the city’s urbanistic plans. The activities organized for the opening , shows and entertainments, took place during five week-ends starting from the day of the inauguration until Sunday the 6th of June. For the ceremony of inauguration Venice’s Mayor Paolo Costa arrived to the park starting from the centre of Mestre by bycicle, at the head of a group of cyclists, and he reached the town’s North Door through the bridge for pedestrians and bycicles. From there, the procession went through all the park accompanied by a band and reaching the areas where artists exhibited. Typical park games (kites, frisbee, jugglers) characterized the inauguration day. Hosts have been welcomed and guided to the area from young students of various towns’ high schools. The point of arrival of this visit was the quay overlooking the lagoon, where debates concerning the role of the Park had been organized.

The park’s image includes a network of roads and pedestrian routes; a series of entrance doors and a system of aggregation places and renovated open spaces. The area constitutes an accessible and enjoyable meeting point, which is also environmentally safe and rich in vegetation, a green junction between the contraposed urban realities of Mestre and Venice.

The first balance concerning this new venetian green area was given last June the 10th at the San Giuliano Park, at the end of the happening. There has been indeed a press conference at the presence of the councillor for Public Works of the Venice’s City Council, Marco Corsini, of the architect Giovanni Caprifoglio, president of the association “Il Parco” and of the architect Antonio Di Mambro, planner of the park. During the meeting, to which took part also the Mayor of Venice Paolo Costa, great satisfaction was expressed for the massive affluence to the park registered during the first month of opening, increased by the bikes rental service.