Villa Soldati
Encyclopedia
Villa Soldati is a neighbourhood in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, located in the South-West of the city. It has a population of approximately 41,000 people, 40 % of which live in Barrio Soldati, a public housing development built between 1973 and 1979.

The ward is delimited by 27 de Febrero Ave., Coronel Esteban Bonorino, General Francisco Fernández de la Cruz Ave., Varela, Perito Moreno Ave., Castañares, and Escalada streets.

Founded in 1908 by Dr. José Soldati as "Villa Lugano," the area originally included what today is the Villa Lugano
Villa Lugano
Villa Lugano is a neighbourhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina, located in the West of the city. It has a population of approximately 114,000 people....

 neighborhood. The first lots were sold in 1911, but the area's topography led to frequent flooding, and much of the area was left undeveloped. The neighborhhod was bolstered by the establishment of the large La Vascongada dairy in 1930, but the opening of a landfill
Landfill
A landfill site , is a site for the disposal of waste materials by burial and is the oldest form of waste treatment...

 in 1936 dampened hopes for the area's future growth. Villa Soldati was formally demarcated as such in 1972.

On the morning of June 11, 1962 a train struck a bus on a level crossing in Villa Soldati, killing 43 people, mostly children

The area saw dramatic changes during the tenure of military-appointed Mayor Osvaldo Cacciatore
Osvaldo Cacciatore
Osvaldo Cacciatore was an Argentine Air Force officer and former de facto Mayor of Buenos Aires during the National Reorganization Process military dictatorship.-Early life:Osvaldo Andrés Cacciatore was born in Buenos Aires in 1924...

, when he attempted to revitalize the ward (the city's poorest) with the construction of the Parque de la Ciudad
Parque de la Ciudad
The Parque de la Ciudad is an amusement park in Buenos Aires, Argentina.-History:The park was planned by the administration of Mayor Osvaldo Cacciatore in 1978. Cacciatore, appointed by Argentina's last military government, envisaged the park as the centerpiece of efforts to revitalize the...

, an amusement park. Built after 1977 over the former landfill, the bankruptcy of the developer (Interama) in 1980 led to controversy when Cacciatore had the city absorb the group's debts of over US$100 million; in the end, the amusement park's planned 15 million yearly visitors never came (attendance has never topped 1 million).

The Parque Roca Stadium
Estadio Parque Roca
The Mary Terán de Weiss Stadium , commonly known as Parque Roca, is a newly constructed multipurpose stadium, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is located at Avenida Coronel Roca and Avenida Escalada in the Villa Riachuelo neighborhood....

, a multi-purpose facility, opened in Villa Soldati in 2006, became the home of the Argentina Davis Cup Team
Argentina Davis Cup team
The Argentina Davis Cup team represents Argentina in Davis Cup tennis competition and is governed by the Asociación Argentina de Tenis.Argentina has never won the tournament, but have finished as the runner-up three times, in 1981, 2006 and 2008....

, and hosted a semifinal match of the 2006 Davis Cup
2006 Davis Cup
The 2006 Davis Cup was the 95th edition of the most important tournament between nations in men's tennis. Sixteen teams participated in the World Group and 125 participated in total...

 as its first sporting event.

On 11 December 2010, violence erupted in a shantytown in Villa Soldati. Police and military units had to be called to restore order, not until three people were dead of gun shots..
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