Parque Toriello

The Parque Toriello is perhaps best-known for sporting the concrete animals of Alberto Pérez Soria on three of its four corners.  Also known as the Jardín Toriello, the garden takes its name from the Colonia Toriello Guerra. And it’s a classic neighborhood park. Just big enough for a ton of kids’ equipment, it’s also a welcome spot of green in Tlalpan’s consistently heavy traffic.

The neighborhood is named for José Toriello Guerra (1818–1891). He was a Spanish-born businessman prominent in the Banco Mercantil Mexicano and who helped found the Casino Español. His wife was an heir to the San Antonio Coapa Hacienda which extended to this part of Tlalpan. (Most of Coapa-proper is directly east.) Upon Toriello death, his heirs began to divide up the property and that explains both the beginning of this neighborhood and other parts of Coapa.

Big as it is, the neighborhood isn’t well known by outsiders. The park is just a block off of the southern stretches of the Calzada de Tlalpan. The Calzada here really wants to give way to pedestrian traffic as it descends into the Historic Center of Tlalpan. Toriello Guerra is on the side of the San Fernando Avenue that runs along the entire north side of the Center. It’s a good walking neighborhood, and one that’s centered around a charming geometric park.