Milano Bullona

≪The train slows down and stops. Bullona! The occasional traveller disembarks, a few others get on; then the train continues on its way through the open countryside, among allotments in which a few rustic huts stand here and there. This was the scene a few decades ago, when the stop at Bullona was nothing more than a small wooden hut at the crossroads of the old Varesina Road.

Today it looks totally different. Bullona, that deserted hamlet of the city standing remote among the fields, is becoming a bustling district. The Ferrovie Nord Milano railway has disappeared underground, into artificial tunnels and wide overpasses, and the small wooden hut at the Bullona stop has become a splendid station with a unique construction in concrete, iron and glass, located on one of the bridges under which the trains race by.

Travellers ascend and descend the pair of wide, double-flight stairs, and at the top they enter a large light-filled hall which leads out on to the new Via Canonica. Today, the occasional traveller alighting or boarding at the Bullona stop has turned into a crowd≫.

This is how Nord Milano magazine described the station of Bullona in 1929.

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Main dates

1927 - The new stop

The stop at Bullona, once a wooden platform, was rebuilt and extended in the classic “bridge” style during work to lower the Cadorna-Bovisa section into a tunnel.
1928 - Completion of the work

The newly completed Bullona building; work to build the ascending and descending stairs is still in progress
1950 - Liberty-style architecture

The iconic Liberty-style building of Bullona, seen from track level.
1953 - The station

The busy station
1953 - Passengers on the platform

A crowd of passengers on the platform at Bullona station, heading to the nearby Fiera Campionaria exhibition centre.
1995 - The nineties

View of Bullona station and the tracks in the 1990s
2003 - The passenger building

Exterior of the passenger building at Bullona in 2003. That same year, on 18 May, it was closed down following quadruplication work which three days earlier involved the opening of the new underground station at Domodossola.

Gallery

Striking aerial view after completion of the underground work
The cover of the 4 April 1932 issue of Nord Milano magazine, dedicated to the Fiera di Milano exhibition centre which attracted thousands of visitors each year, many of whom arrived from all over Lombardy via Bullona station.
Interesting item: a technical drawing of a design for the passenger building at Bullona, later abandoned in favour of the “straddled” structure
Pages from the article in Nord Milano magazine about the construction and opening of the new overpass station at Bullona
Pages from the article in Nord Milano magazine about the construction and opening of the new overpass station at Bullona
Pages from the article in Nord Milano magazine about the construction and opening of the new overpass station at Bullona
The new station at Bullona in two prints from 1929
The new station at Bullona in two prints from 1929
The new CityLife district (700 m from Domodossola station): the former trade fair district, which for over eighty years was the most important hub in Milan and all of Lombardy, has undergone numerous redevelopment and renovation works over recent years. Today, the entire area has been radically transformed, as most of the fair district has been relocated to the new Rho-Pero complex, with the new urban redevelopment project of CityLife. The district sprang up quickly, contributing to the creation of a forward-thinking and constantly evolving new Milan, a city at the forefront of international architecture. The new symbols of this district are the three skyscrapers known as “Le Tre Torri”: the Isozaki Tower, nicknamed “Il Dritto” (“The Straight one”), the Hadid Tower “Lo Storto” (“The Twisted One”), and the Libeskind Tower “Il Curvo” (“The Curved One”). These three masterpieces, with their groundbreaking form and design, form Piazza Tre Torri, an urban hub which conceptually unites the green spirit of the skyscrapers with the new adjoining park, and which has transformed the entire Milan skyline together with the buildings of Porta Nuova. This highly modern setting is also the backdrop for a historic square, Piazza Giulio Cesare, with a large park featuring an area with a children's playground and another with the beautiful “Fontana delle Quattro Stagioni” (“Fountain of the Four Seasons”). Opened in 1928, its elegance once welcomed visitors on their way to the exhibition centre, while today it is a point of access and connection between the historic buildings and the new architecture.