Up to the Renaissance, the area currently occupied by the Parco delle Cascine used to be an area covered by thick vegetation interrupted only by small water courses, ponds and swampy areas. The river Arno had a much larger area at its disposal than it has today, wandering and creating various branches and islets of different dimensions.

The Parco delle Cascine, in its present form, is on one of these small islands, hence the toponym Cascine dell'Isola (Island Farms), and has undergone numerous changes in the course of history due to flood deposits and agricultural exploitation interventions.

In 1563, the Fosso Macinante (Milling Ditch)was built, and immediately afterwards, the two streams Mugnone and Terzolle were embanked.
For a long time, the Cascine remained an estate for the exclusive use of the Medici,for picnics and hunting, conveniently near the Pitti Palace.
On the 3rd of July 1791, the park was inaugurated and opened to the public, with great celebrations that went on for three days, depicted in several paintings. This date also coincides with the settlement by Ferdinando III, who became the Grand Duke of Tuscany when he replaced Pietro Leopoldo, who had just become the Emperor of Austria.
Nevertheless, under Ferdinando III, the Cascine were rarely opened to the public, and only on special dates, such as Ascension Day. It was only with the Napoleonic administration that regular use by the public started, thanks to Elisa, Napoleon's sister, who concentrated her official celebrations in the Parco delle Cascine. Over the following years, the Cascine witnessed several events: in 1861, great celebrations were organised for the Universal Exhibition; during the years when Florence was the capital of Italy (1865-1870), the park was used as a stage for all official presentations, parades and other gatherings.

Promenade in viale A. Lincoln from AA.VV., Le Cascine un parco per la città, 1998

Photo Alinari, viale della Regina, end of the Nineteenth Century

It is a well known fact that there are currently several conflicts characterising the Parco delle Cascine due to the role that this park has played in the course of time, with the ever increasing weight of a growing city that found no corresponding development of a green areas system with an even spatial and typological distribution, as well as for the connections and the extension of the areas that make it up.
The inspections carried out during preliminary surveys for defining the project have confirmed the importance and the differentiation of recreational uses that concern the park on a daily basis. The most common uses are strolling, cycling, resting and basic sporting activities, such as jogging and skating.
The presence of the river means that the area covered by the project, contained between the right riverbank and Viale Washington delimiting the park, offers a peculiar recreational potential in the urban landscape.

View of the Arno river in the Parco delle Cascine area

This type of recreational usage concerns all riverbank areas with any access provided by service ramps or river side stairs that have been recently built in wood and earth between the weir at Isolotto and the Vittoria Bridge.
The small earth beach on the right hydrographic side, immediately downstream from the weir, emerges when the water level is low, thus making it possible to actually walk to the centre of the riverbed. There are visual opportunities that are very peculiar here: of the riverbed itself, and of the front of the park lined with trees, in visual and acoustic isolation. This spot is the only widening of the bank section along the entire stretch and is frequented during sunny and warm days in spite of the relatively degraded conditions of the river, thanks to the connection to the park,.
This is subject to hydraulic maintenance interventions that can be integrated with solutions and reviews with appropriate schedules aimed at improving the quality of the river ecosystem and semiology, which is also a benefit for the abovementioned recreational potential.