Villa Soldati is a neighbourhood in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
,
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, located in the South-West of the city. It has a population of approximately 41,000 people, 40% of which live in Barrio Soldati, a public housing development built between 1973 and 1979.
The ward is delimited by 27 de Febrero Ave., Coronel Esteban Bonorino, General Francisco Fernández de la Cruz Ave., Varela, Perito Moreno Ave., Castañares, and Escalada streets.
Founded in 1908 by Dr. José Soldati as "Villa Lugano," the area originally included what today is the
Villa Lugano
Villa Lugano is a ''Neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires, barrio'' (neighbourhood) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, located in the south of the city. It has a population of approximately 114,000 people. It is delimited by Avenida Eva Perón, Avenida General P ...
neighborhood. The first lots were sold in 1911, but the area's topography led to frequent flooding, and much of the area was left undeveloped. The neighborhood was bolstered by the establishment of the large ''La Vascongada'' dairy in 1930, but the opening of a
landfill
A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the waste ...
in 1936 dampened hopes for the area's future growth. Villa Soldati was formally demarcated as such in 1972.
On the morning of June 11, 1962, a train struck a bus on a level crossing in Villa Soldati, killing 43 people, mostly children
The area saw dramatic changes during the tenure of military-appointed Mayor
Osvaldo Cacciatore
Osvaldo Cacciatore (1924–2007) was an Argentine Air Force brigadier and Mayor of Buenos Aires during the National Reorganization Process military dictatorship.
His management at the head of the city of Buenos Aires was controversial for the wor ...
, when he attempted to revitalize the ward (the city's poorest) with the construction of the
Parque de la Ciudad
The Parque de la Ciudad ( en, City Park) is a former amusement park in the Villa Soldati neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
History
The park was planned by the administration of Mayor Osvaldo Cacciatore in 1978. Cacciatore, appointed by ...
, an amusement park. Built after 1977 over the former landfill, the bankruptcy of the developer (Interama) in 1980 led to controversy when Cacciatore had the city absorb the group's debts of over US$100 million; in the end, the amusement park's planned 15 million yearly visitors never came (attendance has never topped 1 million).
The
Parque Roca Stadium, a multi-purpose facility, opened in Villa Soldati in 2006, became the home of the
Argentina Davis Cup Team
The Argentina men's national tennis team represents Argentina in Davis Cup tennis competition and is governed by the ''Asociación Argentina de Tenis''. As of 2016, the team has competed in the World Group since 2002 and reached the finals five t ...
, and hosted a semifinal match of the
2006 Davis Cup as its first sporting event.
Buenos Aires.gov: Estadio Parque Roca
References
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Neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires