#Semina – Via della Spiga and the art works made in flowers
From Noto to Milan: Sicilian florists in the city for the first edition of #Semina: walking in Via della Spiga, you can see sketches made in flowers
Milan, 1 July 2021. After a year and a half of lockdown, Via della Spiga is reborn and hosts for the very first time a special event in the city of Milan. Mosaics of flowers laid on the cobblestones, colors and scents will adorn the street in the fashionable heart of Milan – the outspoken Quadrilatero della Moda – through carpets of petals and blossoms depicting pictures and messages. This is an Infiorata, the traditional event that takes place once a year in the city of Noto in Sicily, the Baroque capital and one of UNESCO World Heritage sites.
The traditional Sicilian infiorata set in Via della Spiga has its own name: Semina – which means sowing. Semina is an open invitation for ideas to flourish, to be collected and transformed into actual projects. The first edition of Semina – the infiorata of Via della Spiga is promoted by Hines, a global leader in real estate, in collaboration with the Associazione Amici di Via della Spiga and with the patronage of the City of Milan and the City of Noto. An event to celebrate a new rebirth and urban regeneration for the city of Milan.
Semina in Via della Spiga has been made by 60 florists invited to Milan from the Sicilian city. The aim of the event is to underline how an urban pattern is also a cultural pattern, where places, people and beauty intertwine. The North and the South, bringing together local values – for the new energy of Milan, which seeks to be the driving force of Italy as a whole. Colorful paintings, created by craftsmen and young people with only the laying of flower petals, look like huge carpets. Each flower painting is assigned to the curatorship of thirteen personalities, the creative minds who define Milan amongst design, fashion, culture and sport. Talented and bright, either in transit or at home: from Piero Lissoni, Patricia Urquiola, Gilda Bojardi and Elena Salmistraro, to Carla Sozzani, Enrico Bartolini, and many others including: Sveva Casati Modignani, Olivia and Gian Maurizio Fercioni.
Not only people, but icons of the city: the football club Milan, the alternative magazine Toilet Paper, the Plastic.
On Thursday 1 July, the traditional ribbon-cutting ceremony was held by the deputy mayor of Milan, Anna Scavuzzo, in the presence of Mario Abbadessa – Senior Managing Director & Country Head of Hines Italy, Raffaella Banchero – Vice President of the Associazione Amici di Via della Spiga, Oriana Montoneri – President of the Associazione Infioratori di Noto. After walking the hundred meters of Semina, Mario Abbadessa and his guests greeted the participants and left space for the curious people passing through the street.
Semina takes place for three days – from Thursday 1 July to Saturday 3 July – to give the city of Milan a fresh input. The event will end but its sparks will remain in the street bringing new lights and voices.
The urban regeneration that Hines is carrying out in the city of Milan includes the rebuilding of Palazzo Pertusati, which will be transformed into Spiga 26, the location to which these pages are dedicated. The new building, innovative in terms of engineering and sustainability, will be completed in a few months, bringing a historic asset back to Milan. Spiga 26 is a renovated space with a surface area of more than 12,000 square meters, of which 3,000 square meters are dedicated to retail, and an internal green courtyard of 180 square meters, which will connect the other entrance in Via Senato 19. The new building’s identity will be marked by a strong focus on sustainability, with international LEED Gold Core&Shell certification provided specifically for commercial rental properties.
«We at Hines are proud to contribute to the rebirth and renewal of Milan’s iconic landmarks and venues and to support the City of Milan and local institutions», says Mario Abbadessa. «After the event on the 21st June to welcome the commencement of restoration and urban regeneration works of the Torre Velasca, today we are celebrating the city of Milan with another inclusive and representative event: Semina, the infiorata of Via della Spiga. We are seeding new ideas, they will translate into new creative paths for a street synonymous with elegance, a point of attraction for local and international visitors. We strongly believe in the power that visions, images and aspirations have for the community, and we are committed to making them a reality through a strategy of sustainable planning, enhancement and revitalization».
Mario Abbadessa
Senior Managing Director & Country Head di Hines Italy
