The renovation of the heliotherapy colony of Cremona: an itinerary to the future

Cremona is a town founded on the left bank of the Po River, near the middle of the Po Valley, about 80 miles from Milan. The river banks became easily accessible at the end of the XIX century thanks the "Po avenue" construction and in the Thirties were built the masonry seats of the rowing clubs Baldesio and Bissolati, followed by the heliotherapy health camp “Colonie del Po". So was born the “Modern riverside” along the towpath. Still today the riverside is the destination for walking or cycling in every season, as well as a meeting place for members of the private rowing clubs. In this context, the former heliotherapy colony and its park, owned by the Municipality of Cremona, is the only public space available to the community. This building is, at the same time, the weak point and the potential of the riverside: it requires, in fact, an urgent restoration and a better use destination. The goal is to create a River Park with Visitor Center: it will house a permanent exhibition about the history of the “Modern riverside” and his link with the similar building in the Cremona territory, because in the thirties were built many heliotherapeutic colonies as the number of the Municipalities in the Cremona Province. In addition to the visitor center, the building will house also a public bar-restaurant and, in the garden, a public summer bar and solarium, swimming pool and bike sharing. This will be the way to connect the riverside and the city center in a new bigger itinerary that can be linked to the VENTO project, the touristic bicycle path Turin-Venice promoted for Expo 2015 by the Politecnico di Milano (Department Dastu), which already adhere the Municipality of Cremona and the clubs Baldesio and Bissolati. The first step to promote the entire project consists of 5 conferences about the riverside and the Modern that the Cremona Professional Body of Architects will held next year, 2014, to stimulate the community interest.