72
E. Mussinelli et al.
3 The Enhancement Project of the Corti Bonoris in Mantua
In the context of the UNESCO city of Mantua and with reference to the peri-urban
scale, the project of rural heritage enhancement for the Corti Bonoris in the Mincio
Natural Park is emblematic.
3 This is an agricultural area of 600 ha, located between
Mantua and Porto Mantovano, owned by the Fondazione Conte Gaetano Bonoris, a
non-profit institution operating in favour of minors suffering from disabilities. The
area is of extraordinary environmental, landscape and production interest, between
the Bosco Fontana State Natural Park and the northern shore of the Superior Lake
of the city of Mantua, one of its kinds in terms of dimension, undivided property
and strategic location. It includes ten rural courts dating back in some cases to the
mid-eighteenth century, partly in a state of abandonment or underuse.
In this case, the project faced, on the one hand, the high level of protection due
to the exceptional environmental and landscape heritage and, on the other hand, the
need to enhance its rural heritage, both in terms of increasing rent, with technological
adaptation interventions for the management of agricultural funds and livestock, and
through opening up to tourism and the non-profit sector, within which the Foundation operates. An enhancement cannot be postponed, due to the consequent condition
of abandonment and the loss of a huge cultural and landscape heritage, the maintenance costs of which become sustainable only if they are framed within a more
comprehensive intervention of modernization, innovation and qualification of agricultural production, including new functions capable of producing income at the
same time. The project involved the activation of a process of participation with the
engagement of different public and private actors, stakeholders and institutions of
the third sector—first of all the Foundation and its tenants, the Parco del Mincio, the
Sovrintendenza, the Caritas Ambrosiana, the Provincia di Mantova and citizens—
also through the organization of a series of design workshops. The outcome of this
process has led to the definition of a general master plan, of guidelines for thematic
sub-areas and to the development of pilot projects.
The investigation conducted through site surveys, analysis of plans and program
documents, meeting with stakeholders and questionnaires, allowed researchers to
identify the polarities of the territory, outlining the relationships between themselves,
the criticalities, the potential, the constraints and the tendencies of the local system
development. Starting from this fact-finding basis, the project aimed at strengthening
the connections between the city, rural areas and protected areas, through the provision of a system of ecological corridors, a network of slow mobility paths, equipped
areas as well as providing courts with new agricultural, social, tourist, educational
3 “Studies for the rehabilitation and the use, environmental and landscape enhancement of the heritage of the Fondazione Bonoris, in territorial context of the Mincio Natural Park” (2012–14),
research contract between Department of Built Environment Science and Technologies BEST
Politecnico di Milano and the Fondazione Conte Gaetano Bonoris, scientific coordinator E.
Mussinelli, coordinator R. Riva, work group C. Agosti, R. Bolici, D. Fanzini, A. Poltronieri, collaborators A. Bezzecchi, A. Chirico, C. Giordano, R. Scalari, advisors B. Agosti (Parco del Mincio),
M. Castelli (Provincia di Mantova), A. G. Mazzeri (Sovrintendenza). The outcomes are published
in: Mussinelli 2014a, b; Agosti and Riva 2014; Schiaffonati et al. 2015; Mussinelli et al. 2015.
E. Mussinelli et al.
3 The Enhancement Project of the Corti Bonoris in Mantua
In the context of the UNESCO city of Mantua and with reference to the peri-urban
scale, the project of rural heritage enhancement for the Corti Bonoris in the Mincio
Natural Park is emblematic.
3 This is an agricultural area of 600 ha, located between
Mantua and Porto Mantovano, owned by the Fondazione Conte Gaetano Bonoris, a
non-profit institution operating in favour of minors suffering from disabilities. The
area is of extraordinary environmental, landscape and production interest, between
the Bosco Fontana State Natural Park and the northern shore of the Superior Lake
of the city of Mantua, one of its kinds in terms of dimension, undivided property
and strategic location. It includes ten rural courts dating back in some cases to the
mid-eighteenth century, partly in a state of abandonment or underuse.
In this case, the project faced, on the one hand, the high level of protection due
to the exceptional environmental and landscape heritage and, on the other hand, the
need to enhance its rural heritage, both in terms of increasing rent, with technological
adaptation interventions for the management of agricultural funds and livestock, and
through opening up to tourism and the non-profit sector, within which the Foundation operates. An enhancement cannot be postponed, due to the consequent condition
of abandonment and the loss of a huge cultural and landscape heritage, the maintenance costs of which become sustainable only if they are framed within a more
comprehensive intervention of modernization, innovation and qualification of agricultural production, including new functions capable of producing income at the
same time. The project involved the activation of a process of participation with the
engagement of different public and private actors, stakeholders and institutions of
the third sector—first of all the Foundation and its tenants, the Parco del Mincio, the
Sovrintendenza, the Caritas Ambrosiana, the Provincia di Mantova and citizens—
also through the organization of a series of design workshops. The outcome of this
process has led to the definition of a general master plan, of guidelines for thematic
sub-areas and to the development of pilot projects.
The investigation conducted through site surveys, analysis of plans and program
documents, meeting with stakeholders and questionnaires, allowed researchers to
identify the polarities of the territory, outlining the relationships between themselves,
the criticalities, the potential, the constraints and the tendencies of the local system
development. Starting from this fact-finding basis, the project aimed at strengthening
the connections between the city, rural areas and protected areas, through the provision of a system of ecological corridors, a network of slow mobility paths, equipped
areas as well as providing courts with new agricultural, social, tourist, educational
3 “Studies for the rehabilitation and the use, environmental and landscape enhancement of the heritage of the Fondazione Bonoris, in territorial context of the Mincio Natural Park” (2012–14),
research contract between Department of Built Environment Science and Technologies BEST
Politecnico di Milano and the Fondazione Conte Gaetano Bonoris, scientific coordinator E.
Mussinelli, coordinator R. Riva, work group C. Agosti, R. Bolici, D. Fanzini, A. Poltronieri, collaborators A. Bezzecchi, A. Chirico, C. Giordano, R. Scalari, advisors B. Agosti (Parco del Mincio),
M. Castelli (Provincia di Mantova), A. G. Mazzeri (Sovrintendenza). The outcomes are published
in: Mussinelli 2014a, b; Agosti and Riva 2014; Schiaffonati et al. 2015; Mussinelli et al. 2015.