At the end of the 18th Century, great occasions happened for Milan and Lombardy as a whole – the archduke Ferdinand, one of Maria Teresa’s sons, married Maria Beatrice to settle the power of Austria upon Lombardy. Thus, they needed a residence not too far from the city, but still close enough to be able to rule. As a result, the state architect Piermarini prepared a villa out of the old Palace of the Governors, which was in very poor condition, but his initial plan was discarded because it involved the construction of more buildings and was expensive to realise. After the death of the great Empress Maria Teresa, the new ruler Giuseppe II, decided to redevelop the garden complex of the residence into a public garden with a library and a school, following the Viennese example.

The actual construction works were carried out between 1783 and 1790, as many changes were made to the former facility, with a football playground created where prior a monastery had stood, and a small woods was also planted. Fame came to the Giardini Pubblici with the arrival of Napoleon, as many festivities were held there and new sculptures were installed in memory of those who perished in the Napoleonic Wars. After that period, in the 1820s, the Hall where festivities took place was given to sculptor Pompeo Marquises, and also the former convent on the garden’s premises served as a shelter for birds. In 1846, the mansion along with its garden and buildings was purchased by the Commune for the future public park.

Following the Balzaretto design for the new garden, it was enriched with new amenities and also given a new look according to the garden fashions of the time. Although laid out in the modern English style, Giardini Pubblici kept some of its Italian character by leaving some of the old parterre plant structures. Also, the introduction of the Museum of Natural History, the Planetarium and the Art School around the mid-19th Century modernised the looks of the garden significantly, and it was used for the Industrial Exhibitions at the end of the 18th Century, bringing a lot of economic efficiency to the estate. Moreover, at the far end of the gardens there’s the 18th-century Palazzo Dugnale, housing the Greenhouse Laboratories, part of the Milan Natural Science Centre. The public Garden of Milan also features a coffeehouse and a small zoo adjacent to the Museum of Natural History, where visitors of all ages can spend a pleasant day. The Public Gardens of Milan offer not only an experience of nature in the middle of the city, but also a trip through art and history.