Horti was born from the desire to give new life to the Borromean Gardens, creating a real workshop of knowledge, into a big green area, open to the city. Horti will welcome works of contemporary art and it will host interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary cultural events which will foster new experiences of training, learning, education, well-being, introspection and reflection, which will encourage inclusion and social aggregation. The overall project of Horti is divided into four main points of interest, which respond to as many macro-activities, which are listed here in summary:
(1) “Horti.Art”
Horti welcome the “Horti.Art” path, which winds through works by internationally renowned artists (including Arnaldo Pomodoro and David Tremlett) and other emerging authors. Thus, the park becomes an evocative outdoor exhibition of installations and sculptures. The archaeological area of ??San Marco in Monte Bertone, a Romanesque church dating back to the 12th century that was subsequently demolished, will also be enhanced with works of art.
(2) “Horti.Link”
Horti promotes a center for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary studies, dedicated to the connection of knowledge, in inventive but rigorous forms, with the aim of bringing together aspects and salient moments of ancient, modern and contemporary culture, in a “laboratory of knowledge” that creates links of knowledge and leads to critical visions and new awareness.
(3) “Horti.Oasi”
The three green hectares, consisting of meadows, centuries-old trees and a small artificial lake, which are located a few meters from the Ticino river in the urban heart of Pavia, make Horti a natural landing place for various bird species. Horti wants to increase the appearance of a naturalistic oasis through choices that respect the environment, offering new places for the refuge, reproduction and migratory stop of the avifauna. In agreement with the Oasis of Sant’Alessio and with the University of Pavia, ad hoc tree species have been selected and the presence of water has been considerably expanded.
(4) “Horti.Eat”
In the seventeenth-century farmhouse there will be a cafe point with typical local products, managed in collaboration with social enterprises and cooperatives that work with also the most vulnerable people. The project aims to shorten distances: work inclusion brings people closer; the choice of local PDO products shortens the supply chain, ensures environmental protection, the traceability of raw materials and their certified quality.
