In a hectic city like Milan, every scrap of nature looks like a little miracle, every park seems like a forest and sometimes even the old good Naviglio makes us feel at the seaside. Just think for a second what a surprise would it be if there was a hidden garden with a flock of pink flamingos. Impossible? Nothing is impossible for those who dream. Romeo Invernizzi, better known as “the cheese king”, after many years of apprenticeship in the family dairy factory, takes the lead of the business. After some masterstrokes like the invention of MIO cheese (which at the time went viral, and today is still a favorite among youngsters), he can afford to buy not one, but two houses in the city center of Milan – he then decides to tear one down and turn the place into a huge garden (clever boy).
Photo by Alice Gemignani
It seems Romeo and his wife were deeply passionate about exotic animals, and to adorn their city residence they chose the funniest and most majestic bird on Earth: the pink flamingo. This is how it went, more or less: at the end of the Seventies the Invernizzis ordered a small flock from Chile on Amazon Prime, then added some friends from Africa, building a multi-cultural flamingo family that has been living the time of its life in the Villa Invernizzi garden. Those pink buddies enjoyed life so much at the Villa that the flock started growing so much that every once in a while some members have to be moved in a wildlife reserve near Lignano Sabbiadoro.
Photo by Alice Gemignani
Romeo and his wife Enrica loved to look at them from the Villa windows (not so much, we imagine, to hear the sound of their unpoetic bickering). But we, commoners, can glimpse like stalkers between the iron bars on Via dei Cappuccini and peek at those bonbons while they bathe in their private pool. If you don’t feel bad at the thought that there are flamingos living a better life than you do, we strongly suggest you go visit them: they are perfect hosts.
VILLA INVERNIZZI
Via Cappuccini 7, Milano
Metro M1 Palestro
