Orme_Ortica Memoria

Footprints, footprints, are unique and leave a mark that will last. OrMe (Ortica Memoria) has created Milan's first open-air museum in the historic Ortica district. Ortica comes from Orto, and a colourful floral mural stands as a reminder of the origins of Milan's smallest neighbourhood: a corner of the city, built on the banks of the Lambro river, whose ancient agricultural vocation is echoed in its very name.

With the arrival of factories and railway infrastructures, this area of farmsteads, vegetable gardens and orchards, located on the extreme eastern outskirts of the city, quickly became a working-class village but also a place of taverns and dance halls that saw Dario Fo, Jannacci and Ivan della Mea pass through and sing. 

Clinging to its history, Ortica resists, and the OrMe youths have developed an artistic and multimedia urban regeneration project with 20 murals, created by the Orticanoodles collective together with citizens, schools and associations, accompanied by the faces of those who have lived in this neighbourhood by maps, digital directions, guides and a lively and creative communication activity aimed at making the history of Milan known to all and spreading the value of Memory. A museum accessible to all and free of charge. In order to better welcome the ever-growing number of citizens and tourists who come to visit the Ortica, the OrMe association will enhance the signage by affixing QR codes on the murals to make the individual works and the history of Milan and the 20th century known. OrMe is also carrying out projects outside of Ortica through the tool of participatory art, with the aim of creating community moments, involving, raising awareness and spreading the memory of Milan's places.