Laid out in the 1780s on the orders of the Habsburg administration, these are the oldest public gardens in Milan — an English-style park of winding paths, mature plane trees, and a small artificial hill, redesigned in the 19th century and named in 2002 for the journalist Indro Montanelli. They form the green lung of the Porta Venezia district, running between Corso Venezia and the bastions of the old walls.
Within the gardens are two of the city's family attractions: the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, a grand 19th-century natural history museum heavy on dinosaur skeletons and dioramas, and the domed Planetario Ulrico Hoepli, Italy's largest planetarium. The park itself holds a children's play area and a former dairy, and on the Corso Venezia side the gates open onto some of Milan's best Liberty-era architecture. It is a good place to slow down between sights.