The Public Gardens were the first example of a city park being planned and create for public use, although for many years they remained largely a rendezvous point and leisure sport for the Milanese aristocracy. The original plan by architect Giuseppe Piermarini included the building of a royal palace surrounded by a large garden. However, the Gardens (1782 - 1789) were eventually built on a land belonging to the San Dionigi and Carcanine monasteries, following their suppression under Austrian rule. From 1740 to 1780, the city was governed by Marina Theresa of Austria, who Brought real cultural and administrative dynamism to the city, potentially laying the foundation for the city to become one of the great European capitals. It is in this context that the wonderful Piermarini design needs to be seen. It contains a modern concept of a city planning along with the Enlightenment ideal of rationalising space, as can be gauged from the geometric layout of the flowerbeds and the use of perspective in the tree-lined pathways. In 1787, thick clusters of elm and linden trees - called “Boschetti” - were planted along what is now Via Marina, Piermarini was also the design force behind the gates, framed by large neoclassical vases, the steps up to the bastions, the area for playing football (now site of the planetarium) and Monte Merlo, where Balzaretto built the “Padiglione del Caffè” that was latter revamped (1920) to turn it into a nursery school. In 1857, another greater architect, Giuseppe Balzaretto, took up the flame of Piermarini’s legacy, opening the new public Gardens in 1862. His main addition was the integration into the Gardens of Palazzo Dugnani, which was purchased by the municipality in 1856, along with the annexed vegetable garden. His work managed to respect what was already there, while also adding real innovation. On the southern side, he built a fountain and flowerbeds to turn the park into a landscape garden. On the northern side, the addictions of rocks in combination with the clever exploitation of the existing unevenness and the use of water features turned the area into a picturesque garden. Balzaretto was also behind the restoration of Palazzo Dugnani, which came to be flanked by the greenhouses that were such a functional part of maintaining the gardens. The final additions to the park were the work of Emilio Alemagna (1881), designer of the Sempione Park, and were necessary following the grand exhibitions held in the gardens from 1871 - 1881. Alemagna removed Balzaretto’s basin, located in front of Villa Reale, and restored the trench (with a part hidden from view), opening up the area significantly. In truth, Alemagna’s design (never created) involved the merger of three adjacent green areas: the Public Gardens (old and new), the Gardens around Villa Reale and the Boschetti. The corner of Via Palestro and Corso Venezia saw, in 1892, the creation of the Museum of Natural History, designed by architect Giovanni Ceruti. In 1930, the Planetarium, designed by architect Paolo Potaluppi, was built on the Bastioni corner. The first trade fair was held in 1920 on Viale dei Bastioni. Such was the success that, in 1923, the newly formed trade fair entity - Regio Ente Autonomo Fiera Internazionale di Milano - moved to the new site that would, until the creation of the new exhibition centre in Rho, remain the home of the Milan trade fair. Until the 1990s, the area between Via Manin and the Bastioni area had a small zoo, but this was removed and turned into a green space. The Gardens host numerous monuments to key people from the 19th century (Milanese and non) as well as a recent addition by Vito Tongiani of Indro Montanelli, after whom the gardens were named in 2002. The Public Gardens have a surface area of 160,000 m2, including 60,000 m2 of grass and lawns. There are about 1,660 trees, largely house-chestnuts, linden trees, magnolias, yews, plane-trees, red oaks, beech-trees and ginkgoes. The most notable, though, are the monumental red oak and few of the century-old plane-trees.