It lay largely unused until 2015, when it was completely renovated for the Milan Expo. Once one of the busiest ports in Italy until it was decommissioned during the rapid urbanisation of the 1960s, this harbourside area was nothing more than overgrown swamp on my initial visit. The Darsena (meaning 'dock' or 'shipyard') sits at the meeting point of two of Milan’s last canals, Naviglio Grande and Naviglio Pavese. There was a new energy around Navigli, and it was flowing from the Darsena. It wasn’t until I returned last year, this time to live, that I realised the significance of the canals and saw the growing movement to re-open the rest of these historical channels.

Unlike Italy’s other great cities, there is no ancient Centro Storico district in Milan, but Navigli felt like a different sort of old town. Back then, I remember being charmed by the slow-paced waterside lifestyle, far removed from the frenetic city centre. When I first visited Milan in 2013, I was instantly struck by Navigli. Today, the lock is a curious sight: two sets of large wooden gates, frozen slightly open, useless without water, in the middle of Milan. Some vestiges still remain in the city centre, such as the Incoronata Lock at the end of Via San Marco. For the most part, the canals are still there, covered over by new roads and buildings. The rest fell victim to modernisation during the mid-20th Century as automobiles and trains replaced boats as the fastest modes of transport, The Inner Ring was buried under concrete. Most of the last traces of this network can be seen in Navigli, and in the north of the city, at the Martesana canal. At the network’s heart, the Cerchia Interna (The Inner Ring) and a series of smaller channels knitted the whole thing up. By the end of the 15th Century, Milan’s canal system connected the city to the River Ticino (25km to the west) and the River Adda (35km to the east). Between the 12th and 17th Centuries, a network of navigli (canals) was developed in order to grow the landlocked city’s wealth and influence.

Yet, Milan, one of the wealthiest cities in Europe, has none. Berlin was built around the banks of the Spree. Think of almost any major inland city and there’s a big river to go with it. Yet this small corner of the city has a much bigger history although not widely known, Milan’s centre was once traced with waterways, not unlike those of Venice or Amsterdam.

Under locke mariana