QT8 is a district ("

quartiere A (; plural: ) is a territorial subdivision of certain Italian towns. The word derives from (‘fourth’) and was thus properly used only for towns divided into four neighborhoods by the two main roads. It has been later used as a synonymous ...

") of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, part of the Zone 8 administrative division of the city. The name formally stands for Quartiere Triennale 8, but the district is also simply referred to as QT8.This is possibly based on a common misinterpretation of "QT" as abbreviation of "Quartiere". Note that "8" is actually a reference to the 8th edition of the Triennale exhibition. QT8 developed from an experimental urbanization project that was conceived during the 8th edition of the

Triennale di Milano The Triennale di Milano is a design and art museum in the Parco Sempione in Milan, in Lombardy in northern Italy. It is housed in the Palazzo dell'Arte, which was designed by Giovanni Muzio and built between 1931 and 1933; construction was fina ...

design exhibition that was held in 1947, at the beginning of the reconstruction of Milan after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Architect Piero Bottoni was the main promoter of the project, which included the realization of Monte Stella, an artificial hill made from the debris of the buildings that had collapsed during the war. Construction began in 1946 and 1947, with the reuse of several heterogeneous housing units. In 1948, the first four-story prefabricated houses in Italy were completed in QT8. Much effort was put into the realization of green areas such as playgrounds, neighbourhood gardens, and a 375,000 m² city park. As a result, QT8 is one of the greenest districts in Milan. The district is well connected to the city centre, by the

Milan Metro The Milan Metro ( it, Metropolitana di Milano) is the rapid transit system serving Milan, Italy, operated by Azienda Trasporti Milanesi. The network consists of 5 lines, identified by different numbers and colours, with a total network length of ...

subway as well as several bus lines. File:Paolo Monti - Serie fotografica - BEIC 6340726.jpg, via Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig 40. Photo by

Paolo Monti Paolo Monti (11 August 1908 – 29 November 1982) was an Italian photographer, known for his architectural photography. In his early period, Monti experimented with abstractionism as well as with effects such as blurring and diffraction. In 1 ...

, 1970

References in popular culture

Premiata Forneria Marconi Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM) (translation: ''Award-winning Marconi Bakery'') is an Italian progressive rock band founded in 1970 which continues to the present day. They were the first Italian group to have success internationally. The group ...

's ''Come ti va in riva alla città'' (1981) is a largely autobiographical concept album where singer-songwriter Franz Di Cioccio remembers his youth in the outskirts of Milan; QT8 is explicitly referenced in the eponymous song.

Footnotes

References

* Piero Bottoni, ''QT8 : quartiere sperimentale della triennale di Milano'', "Edilizia Moderna", n.46 (1951). In Italian. Se

* Graziella Tonon, ''QT8: Urbanistica e architettura per una nuova civiltà dell'abitare'', in Graziella Leyla Ciagà and Graziella Tonon (eds.), ''Le case nella Triennale. Dal parco al QT8'', Electa, Milano 2005 - . In Italian. * Piero Bottoni, ''Ascensione al Monte Stella'', in Piero Bottoni, ''Una nuova antichissima bellezza. Scritti editi e inediti 1927-1973'', ed. Graziella Tonon, Laterza 1995, pp. 457–479 - . In Italian. {{coord, 45, 29, 10, N, 9, 08, 14, E, source:kolossus-itwiki, display=title Districts of Milan