ZINGONIA, ITALY
Deni Ruggeri
Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture
Cornell University
INTRODUCTION
Located at the outskirts of Milan, Zingonia is the quintessential modernist utopia.
Conceived by Renzo Zingone, a key figure in the 1960s “Italian Miracle,” this self-
sufficient, privately-sponsored new town positioned itself as a new urban prototype of
modernist “towers in the park” (fig. 1), architectural prefabrication, efficient
transportation, abundant open space and thriving industries.
Figure 2 This sketch for Zingonia’s downtown is reminiscent of Lucio Costa’s vision for Brasilia
(Courtesy of: Comune di Verdellino-Zingonia).
The dependence of new towns on the charisma and economic power of individuals
has proved to be double-edged sword. While the presence of a visionary was
instrumental in the implementation of an idea, they departure often meant their
complete abandonment. The contemporary new towns of Irvine, CA and Librino,
Italy illustrate. In Irvine, the continued presence of the Irvine Company, owner,
planner and developer of the new town was instrumental in ensuring the maintenance
and long-term sustainability of the original plan (Ruggeri, 2009). In Librino, the
absence of a strong institutional presence was the leading cause for the failure of the
experiment due to poor maintenance, social cohesion and an overall lack of sense of
identity (Southworth and Ruggeri, 2010).
Zingonia as privatopia
After WWII, Milan became Italy’s primary industrial and financial center, embodying the
“Italian Miracle (Foot, 37). In response to a large flux of immigrants, the city’s
population rose 25% between 1951 and 1961, and again 12.5% between 1961 and 1971,
reaching a total population of 1.7 million (Istat). Most immigrants found shelter in
privately built residential towers at the city’s edge until the passing of the 167/1962
Public Housing Act, which marked the beginning of the planning of large public housing
neighborhoods.
Privately sponsored new town experiments in the Milanese region dated back to the early
1920s, when the garden city of Milanino was built to house blue and white-collar
families. Connected to the center by a tramway line, the town included sites for
commercial, retail, and public amenities organized along a boulevard acting as a focal
element. Despite Milanino’s success, one has to wait until the early 1960s and 70s for
this type of planned neighborhoods to reappear. Quartiere Zingone, Quartiere Patrizia,
Milanodue, Milanotre, and Zingonia were conceived as self-contained, satellite towns.
Sponsored by private developers, Zingonia and its counterparts were more than just
speculative enterprises. They clearly showed an effort to large scale urban planning,
combining urban functions and amenities historically absent from the periphery (Airaldi,
1981, p. 91).
1
The term “periferia” commonly indicates area characterized by large housing complexes, industrial plants
and minimal public services built at the outskirts of many European cities post WWII.
Figure 3 Zingonia's zoning showing the strict separation between functions
(Courtesy of: Comune di Verdellino-Zingonia)
The new town offered “the optimum for all those [industries that} will decide to make it
the headquarters of their industrial and commercial activities because of its location,
atmospheric and fiscal privileges” (Airaldi, 93-4). As an industrialist’s “pragmatopia,”
Zingonia embodied the faith in modernity that pervaded Italian society during the
economic “miracle” (Foot) and embraced contemporary examples of European and
American new towns as precedents (Della Vale, 1967). Its plan combined the principles
of new town planning with Zingone’s pragmatism and his concerns for profitability,
2
Zingone took advantage of the national Law 1169/65, which assigned low interest mortgages to
developers building in depressed areas.
which aimed at a substantial return on investment of $ 40 million (Times Magazine,
1967).
It was such pragmatism that led the developer to target an economically depressed area
southwest of the city of Bergamo as a site for a new town. This allowed Zingone to enter
into favorable agreements with the small and inexperienced municipalities and ensure a
speedier approval process in exchange for his promise to construct streets, services,
schools and amenities at no cost. In reality, while the fountains, parks and large streets
served well the developer‘s marketing efforts, they ultimately did burden the
municipalities with huge maintenance costs and no direct financial benefits (Airaldi).
“Zingonia is in the 1970s an attempt to build a new city where there were jobs, services, housing
[…]. It was planned as a workers’ village, with the towers for workers, small villas for the white
collars, and the nicest villas for the managers.”
(Interview 5, Airaldi, 1981)
The discourses of modernity and innovation were clearly embodied by its architecture,
which used prefabricated structures, modern materials and finishings (fig. 4). In order to
streamline the planning process, Zingone developed model homes featuring multiple
layouts and custom details. Similarly, a choice of industrial buildings would fit the
idiosyncratic needs of each industry (fig. 5). The “Roma” model offered window surfaces
for better lighting and working conditions, while the “Bergamo” type offered wide spans,
ideal for the storage of products and large machinery (Della Valle, 1967).
Figure 4 View of the living room of a small villa (Courtesy of: Comune di Verdellino-Zingonia)
Zingonia’s decline began shortly after its construction. Many of the planned public
facilities remained on paper, as the developer struggled to maintain a steady profit. New
immigrant families preferred to locate in the nearby villages, which offered better and
more comprehensive services. The city quickly became a transitional place, a stepping-
stone toward other parts of the region, Italy and other European countries (Sinatti, 6,
Airaldi, 3-9). The economic slowdown of the mid 1970s took a particularly hard toll on
Zingonia, built a time when Milan was already losing many of its manufacturing and
industrial jobs in favor of the tertiary sector (Foot). Still in its infancy, the new town
seemed destined to failure, yet Zingone continued to pursue his dream.3
“The fastest and bureaucratically less laborious [would be] the hypothesis of a unified
Municipality of Ciserano-Verdellino. This procedure is spelled out by the law “the unification of
two or more municipalities, regardless of their population, can be disposed by the town council
when the town councilmen request it […]”
(Pesenti, 40-1)
Over the years, Zingonia’s identity as a marginal place has solidified. All efforts
to incorporate Zingonia into a city failed. Multi-family buildings have either been sold or
rented to immigrants and only a handful of original owners continue to live there. The
identity of Zingonia as an immigrant enclave is made evident by an analysis of census
data. (Fig. 6), which show that only a minority of foreign born citizens lives in the
historic centers of the five founding villages, while the rest occupies the high-rise towers
3
Zingonia’s unstable foundations were indirectly acknowledged by prime minister Aldo Moro, who visited
the new town in 1967: “ I wish to rightfully recognize here Mr. Renzo Zingone, who, in the heart of an
economic crisis, has initiated a plan of such great importance, which responds to the call this government
has extended to all Italian entrepreneurs to begin planning new such initiatives” (ZIF, 1968).
of the new town. Recent journalistic reports have shed light on the degradation of the
iconic residential towers where overcrowding, drug dealing and squatting are the norm
(Ravelli, 2005). Data show that 30% of all arrests made in the region in 2009 took place
in Zingonia (Bergamonews, May 27, 2009). The situation has become so problematic
that some have called for the demolition of many of the high-rise buildings and their
replacement with less intimidating low-rise housing. Simultaneously, efforts have begun
to build on Zingonia’s immigrant past/present and reposition it as the quintessential
global village (Comune di Verdellino, 2009).
Figure 6 Percentage of non-Italian residents in the villages vs. the new town (source: Istat-2001 census)
An industrial success
During the economic crisis of the mid 70s, the Italian industrial sector underwent major
restructuring. As a result, many large companies in the Milan region shut down, with
very important consequences on the small manufacturing and technology companies
located in the new town. Despite this, Zingonia’s industrial sector remained overall quite
healthy. Industries like Robur—which designs and produces innovative heat pumps—and
Faema, a leader in the production of espresso machines, have become leaders in their
respective fields. To this day, these industries offer many blue and white-collar jobs to
the region.
The presence of these companies is critical to the survival of Zingonia as a place. This is
clearly understood by local politicians, who have been actively recruiting and lobbying
for them with the regional and national governments. As the new town moves into a new
phase of its history, it is essential that the live and work environment envisioned by the
original master plan is maintained and that the job market remains stable. It is also
important to continue to promote innovation and technological progress, as the health and
livelihood of these industries relies heavily on the availability of such infrastructure.
Globalization has increased the role of public institutions in public life. Just as
governments are shrinking, cities have become privatized and controlled by corporations.
As the public sector is beginning to consider private/public partnerships (PPPs) for the
redevelopment of these new towns (Bailey, 1994), looking at the failures and success of
privately planned and managed US new towns may offer useful solutions. In Zingonia,
recent efforts to enroll private corporate sponsors are crucial to the promotion of new
redevelopment efforts. Similarly, the success of the redevelopment of other new towns,
like the Dutch Bijlmermeer District has been shaped by the introduction of commercial
developments and more lively and active town centers (Helleman and Wassenberg,
2004).
“As a child and teenager I lived the experience of a growing Zingonia, of the farmland that was
changing, and of parents that instead of commuting to Milan for work went to work in Zingonia.
Most of all, I believe I have lived […] the experience of crossing a path that existed between the
rural life of Verdellino, its cemetery, the last farm fields and the things
that were growing in Zingonia.”
(Interview. 4, Airaldi, 1981)
Whereas many European new towns were located along transit lines (Cervero), Zingonia
lacked connectivity and viable transportation options. This further isolated it from the
surroundings, as housing densities were too low to support a viable bus system, leaving
no alternative to the automobile. As Zingonia enters a new phase in its history,
connectivity and sustainable transportation remain crucial to its resiliency as a place.
Opportunities to make Zingonia more sustainable abound. The nearby Bergamo airport
has become a hub for low-cost airlines, the Milan-Bergamo railroad has doubled its
capacity, and the A4 autostrada has been widened to handle the dense traffic between
Bergamo and Milan. These factors, combined with potential infill, increased densities and
an overall improvement of the public realm could offer Zingonia hope for a rebirth.
The landscape played a tangential role in the physical structure of Zingonia, yet it
abundantly employed as a marketing tool. The naming of streets after trees and
decorative plants was an attempt to establish a suburban narrative of order, cleanliness
and success consistent with the traditional identity of suburbia as the “bourgeois utopia”
(Fishman). Whereas contemporary new towns celebrated the landscape as an organizing
element and identity shaper,4 Zingone ignored the agricultural landscape onto which the
new town of Zingonia was grafted, superimposing it with new geometries and alignments
based purely on the functional needs of automobile (fig 7) (Adobati and Azzini, 141).
This represents a fundamental missed opportunity, which future plans could begin to
address and build upon.
4
Ian McHarg’s “The Woodlands” carefully preserved the site hydrology. In Tapiola, Finland agricultural
fields were preserved as integral components of the new town (Lahti, 2008). Similarly in Irvine, California
agricultural windrows and irrigation ditches were preserved as frameworks for residential development. In
contrast, planners of Zingonia did not take into account pre-existing agricultural patterns or hydrological
systems.
residents and led to the formation of an administrative consortium. The departure of
Zingone from the local scene, the industrial crisis of the 1970s, and the closing of the
consortium at the end of the 1980s (Servitec) led to the demise of the original vision of a
unified satellite city and opened the door to a fragmentation still seen today.
To this day, the lack of stewardship continues to be a fundamental flaw, which many
people consider the key to the failure of Zingonia as a place (L’Eco di Bergamo 1985).
The vicissitudes of one of Italy’s new towns illustrate a key lesson in sustainability: that
physical planning is but one of the components of a strong place identity. Good planning
and design should be concerned with is the long-term resilience of communities, which
include the presence of a democratic governance structure and processes able to address
the challenges of an uncertain and evolving future (Hester, 2008; Ruggeri, 2009;
Southworth and Ruggeri, 2010).
Figure 8 Today, Zingonia has the potential to become the next sustainable, live and work place
(photo by author)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adobati, F; Azzini. A. (2006) “Abitare una Città al Plurale: Zingonia” in L. Pagani
(Ed.), Evoluzione del Territorio di Verdellino e Trasformazioni Ambientali e
Sociali tra XIX e XX Secolo, Comune di Verdellino – Università degli Studi di
Bergamo – Centro Studi sul Territorio, Verdellino (Bg).
Bosio, A. (1983). “Zingonia da Città del Futuro a Cimitero delle Illusioni.” Bergamo
Oggi, May 11th.
Della Valle, C. (1967) La Nascita di Una “Città Nuova” nella Pianura Lombarda Nord –
Orientale” Bollettino della Società geografica italiana, Serie IX vol. VIII,
fascicolo n. 4/6.
Ferri, E. (2007). “Kebab, Paraboliche e Sogni L' Utopia di Zingonia Adesso e’ la Sfida al
Razzismo.” Corriere della Sera, p.13, February 20.
Fishman, R. (2004), Rethinking Public Housing [Research & Debate], Places: Vol.
16: No. 2,
------, (1987). Bourgeois Utopias: the Rise and Fall of Suburbia. New York : Basic
Books.
Foot, J. (2003). Milano dopo il Miracolo. Biografia di una Citta. Bologna, Italy:
Feltrinelli.
Fourier, C. (1901). Selections from the Works of Fourier. Julia Franklyn, (Ed.) London:
Swan, Sonnenchein & Co.
Hall, Peter (1997). “Regeneration Policies for Peripheral Housing Estates: Inward- and
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Southworth, M. and Ruggeri, D. (forthcoming). “Place, Identity And The Global City”,
In T. Banerijee and A. Loukaitou-Sideris (Eds.) Urban Design Companion.
London: Routledge.
Servitec (2002). Otto Comuni per Una Strategia. Un’Identità Culturale per l’Area
Dalmine- Zingonia, Dalmine, Italy: Politecnico di Milano.
Stein, C. (1969). Towards New Towns for America. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Web resources
On crime in Zingonia
Bergamonews, May 27, 2009