MILAN

Gratosoglio used to be a very green neighborhood, and still in the morning hours one can see “unexpected wildlife” strolling through the streets of the neighborhood. In particular this hedgehog, he watches a white tower rise above him…from below the Box cars. Changing perspectives!!!!

A tribute to one of the neighborhood Rap Bands, who have shot video clips in this very square.

Neighborhood map.
We always like to find a spot to allocate as a map of the work area.

Tribute to Domino Boxing present with a gym in this square.
Activity that brings together several young people from the area.

Since there is drug dealing and crime of various kinds police and carabinieri are the order of the day here.

One of the other big problems in the neighborhood is the massive presence of homeless people who sleep everywhere and try to occupy any available nook and cranny.
In this image a Homeless Crocco, with the brand new housing unit designed by Aler (Azienda Lombarda per l’Edilizia Residenziale) – a sleeping bag that is practical and convenient to place anywhere!!!

Gratosoglio is a multicultural neighborhood.
So many are migrants from all parts of the “global south.”
A tribute to one of these communities.

In the glass walls of The Towers Association – Cultural Recreation Center For Seniors, we can see cracks, breaks, bullet holes (compressed air) from vandalism.
In particular, we were intrigued by these two adjoining windows with these two different holes…and in the middle a small marker writing“love.”
The vision of a somewhat retro affair between a dancer and her admirer was immediately clear to us.

We talked about it with the senior center manager, who complained about the numerous acts of vandalism and “artistic futility”…but at the same time he couldn’t help showing all his senior* friends the delightful (his words) drawings we had made.

The companion beside the ballet described above.

On the ground in Gratosoglio you find everything … including many human “oral secretions” … which are turned into “Blade spit” here.

We shared this stain with several people in the neighborhood and launched an online “Challenge”… and there were countless interpretations of this so interesting stain!!!

On a torn Aler poster we liked to imagine a tribute to the neighborhood that the painter Miró might have made.

Beautiful Drawing made by Ana Hordila of the Civil Service Municipality of Milan.
Instagram @qanaqq

Small spot in a gate of a dog area used mostly as a “pub” with cheap, high-alcohol beers.

Homage to a famous work by Bansky.

The Skate Ramp in Gratosoglio – the Grato Bowl – a beautiful work until a few years ago much used by young people in the area and beyond.
Now, after some wrong and very expensive renovations, the ramp no longer works, floods in bad weather and has become a real open-air dump.

This little satyr is still there waiting to be able to use this space.

A white tile wall full of signs.
A rain-laden cloud that can provide relief in some areas of the Global South.
Climate change is one of the new reasons for mass migration.

There are so many homeless people in Gratosoglio that finding a place to sleep is an incredible adventure.
Any space can become a “sleeping place”-abandoned houses, landings, doorways, balconies, benches.
First come first served best lodging!
Superhero work!!!

Mrs. Pinuccia lives on the top floor of one of the White Towers.
She constantly monitors her landing, which is periodically squatted.
We met her one morning when with a hairbrush in one hand and a large parrot key in the other she “gently” opened the door to the towers’ terrace.
We liked to imagine her as a kind of white-haired Cyrano.

Abandoned the white towers here, the neighborhood turns out to be greener and the scenery changes.
The trees in the area are home to a lot of birds and budgerigars that, in hot weather, sing their hearts out between 2 and 4 pm.
Closing your eyes and listening gives you the feeling of being in a jungle.
Therefore, we enjoyed giving more space to nature.

The many dogs in Gratosoglio that can be found walking between green spaces and piles of garbage.

In this area of Gratosoglio, the White Towers are now almost a memory, or for some monsters they may even become a “game” to be carried under one’s arm.

Garbage heaps are yet another major problem in the neighborhood.
Giant, smelly piles in which anything can be found.
However, the area is filled with red brick cottages specially reserved for garbage collection.

What can I say… a cat is a cat: MIAO!!!!

Looking at the clouds is a constant and a fundamental training of the Details project.
Penguins do it too, you should remember it more often too!

Finally arriving on Gratosoglio Street, in this area we can find the origins of ancient Gratosoglio.

This area is dominated by the former Cederna Cotton Mill, a historic factory covering some 30,000 square meters on the banks of the Southern Lambro.
This entire building is currently abandoned.
What could be more exciting than an abandoned factory?
Who wouldn’t want to peek inside?

Portrait of Antonio Cederna, born in 1841, patriot and Garibaldian, the industrial progenitor of a Valtellina family, best known for two descendants, who in their own way have marked the last fifty years of Italian history: Camilla Cederna, historical journalist and writer, and Antonio Cederna, archaeologist, journalist and writer.

Antonio Cederna is the founder of Cederna Cotton Mill, built in 1886.

One can see from the painting his Garibaldian outlook and his being a man of fashion, atypical for those times.

The end of this Details residence right in front of a former Cotton Mill coincided with the beginning of Milan’s world-famous Fashion Week.
What better way to pay homage to it?
To remember what is the real Milan made of famous and unmissable social events…while in Gratosoglio…life goes on despite everything!