If the sea is far away, just build it downtown! This seems to be the idea behind the Idroscalo, the artificial lake channeling from an aquifer of the Naviglio Martesana canal, surrounded by a large park.
The Idroscalo (“hydro-terminal”) was actually born in the 1920s, next to the Linate airport, as a seaplane airport. Seaplanes were booming at the time, but the fad didn’t last long and the area soon turned into an amusement and leisure area. Notice the beach umbrellas, the towels laid out, the picnic tables, and the hundreds of jogging legs: the Idroscalo is and has always been the sea of the Milanese.
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