“Sun-tanned in Barona, eating McDonald’s in the heat,” rapped Italian hip-hop star Marracash in 2008, capturing a sweltering summer spent among basketball courts, housing estates, and the streets of the Milan neighborhood where he grew up. His portrayal of Barona was far removed from the usual clichés associated with urban peripheries: not a neglected suburb, but a place of belonging and community, where a strong collective identity continues to survive despite decades of urban transformation and gentrification.

It is here, in Piazza Paci, that Barona — once a rural settlement and later shaped by the waves of migration that transformed Milan after World War II — is reclaiming one of its most representative public spaces. The square’s basketball court has been completely renovated through a project promoted by Ford Italia, whose presence in the area dates back more than sixty years through one of its longest-standing dealership partners, in collaboration with the City of Milan, Municipality 6, and the non-profit association Slums Dunk.

The court is part of a playground area previously upgraded by the municipality in 2021 through the “Gioco al Centro – Parchi gioco per tutti” (“Play at the Center – Playgrounds for Everyone”) initiative. Now, it has been transformed by the Turin-based collective Truly Design into a monumental open-air mural, following the international trend of painted basketball courts that have turned neighborhood playgrounds into identity-defining public spaces, from New York City to cities across Europe. 

It is the latest piece in a broader wave of regeneration projects across Barona, particularly around Piazza Paci, the heart of the Sant’Ambrogio II housing estate designed in the 1960s by Arrigo Arrighetti. Alongside the playground, a new school square on Via De Nicola has been inaugurated and the historic Fontana del Centauro has been restored, reflecting a growing interest in the social housing heritage that defines this landmark example of postwar Milanese urban planning.

Founded in Turin in 2003 at the intersection of graffiti, illustration, and street art, Truly Design has become internationally known for its large-scale “art courts” — sports facilities reimagined as monumental urban artworks. Over the years, the collective has collaborated with major brands and cultural institutions, including a large site-specific installation created during Milan Design Week 2022 for IQOS at Opificio 31 in the Tortona district.

At the center of the Piazza Paci court, a large blue-and-yellow feline moves through some of Barona’s most recognizable landmarks. Among them are Barrio’s, the neighborhood’s historic cultural and social center founded in 1997, and the residential towers overlooking the square. If Barona can be seen as an urban jungle, the feline becomes a symbol of its energy, territorial identity, and determination to reclaim a public space that had remained underused for years.

Tommaso Marino, Slums Dunk

Ford Italia described the intervention not simply as a refurbishment, but as a way of giving back an everyday meeting place to the neighborhood: a contemporary agora where sport becomes a vehicle for social inclusion and community building.

A key role in the project is played by Slums Dunk, the organization founded in 2011 by professional basketball players Bruno Cerella and Tommaso Marino. Created with the goal of using basketball as an educational and social tool in vulnerable urban contexts, the association has developed projects across Africa, Latin America, and several Italian cities. In Barona, it will oversee sports and educational activities for local residents.

“For us, sport is a powerful tool for education and social empowerment,” said Tommaso Marino. “Here, we want to build something that will last over time together with the neighborhood.”

The redevelopment of the Piazza Paci court comes just a few months after the Marra Block Party, organized by Marracash in Barona near the middle school on Via Enrico De Nicola where the rapper grew up. Inspired by the block parties that helped shape early American hip-hop culture, the event also aimed to support the regeneration of local sports facilities, reaffirming the social value of sport and public space in Milan’s outer neighborhoods.

With the new Piazza Paci playground, Barona adds another destination to Milan’s growing network of basketball courts where sport, art, and architecture intersect. Like the Stelvio court in Isola and the Selinunte Stadium in San Siro, the project transforms a sports facility into a place of identity and social gathering. Just in time for another Milan summer — this time under the shade of a newly reclaimed neighborhood court.