- Cycle Tourism
- Active & Green
- Art & Culture
Historic Villas and the Groane Park
A cycle touring itinerary, suitable for everyone, to get to know and enhance the landscapes of the area west of Milan.
Taking off from the Ferrovie Nord of Garbagnate-Parco delle Groane Station, where atop a bicycle you'll follow the path along the Villoresi Channels to arrive at the first stop on the route:
Villa Borromeo Visconti Litta, noted for its splendid gardens and lavish fountains. Further on the route we encounter the Rosa Camuna Park, named after the lake in the form of rosa camuna, the symbol of the Lombardy region.
Heading back on the trail for a small stretch backwards we arrive at the marvelous 18th century mansion, Villa Ricotta La Valera. A small deviation to the East will give you a look at the historic and now defunct Alfa Romeo factories. Continuing on to the Permanent Exhibition of peasant life and of furnaces located in some of the restored areas of the Siolo farm, in piazza del Lavatoio at Garbagnate before reaching the spectacular Villa Arconati.
We find ourselves inside Parco delle Groane with some of the most interesting natural locations like the Oasi WWF di Caloggio and the Sentiero delle 7 Cascate. Still cycling along the Villoresi Channel we head back up towards Senago where we can admire Villa Point, Villa Verzolo Monzini and Villa San Carlo Borromeo. The itinerary concludes with the last stop at Villaggio INA Casa di Cesate, built in 1956 thanks to the collaboration with some of the greatest architects of the epoch including Albini, Albricci and Gardella to then head back to the point of departure.
Milestones:
- Villa Borromeo Visconti Litta, villa di delizia commissioned by Pirro I Visconti Borromeo and completed in 1585 was inspired by the fantastic Medici villas.
- Villa Ricotta La Valera, constructed by the Settala Lattuada family, was a splendid 18th century mansion attached to the ancient agricultural town.
- Permanent Exhibition of peasant life and of furnaces, home to some of the tools in the farming culture of the upper-class Milanese between the 19th and 20th centuries.
- Villa Arconati, one of the most beautiful and majestic of the Ville di Delizie of the province of Milan, reached its peak in the 18th century by Galeazzo Arconati
- Oasi WWF Caloggio, spanning 7 acres and containing the Nirone river, one of the natural waterways with the cleanest water between Ticino and Adda.
- Sentiero delle 7 Cascate, path that crosses 7 waterfalls and small artificial lakes
- Villa Ponti, Villa in Neogothic style surrounded by a vast park in the middle of which one can see the ruins of an ancient tower of the Visconti era.
- Villa Verzolo Monzini, contructed initially for agricultural purposes, was transformed into an elegant villa with frescoed interiors
- Villa San Carlo Borromeo, the villa in which Cardinal Federico Borromeo was received in the 17th century as one of the best theologians and thinkers of his time, today home to the International University of the Second Renaissance
- Villaggio INA Casa di Cesate, one of the villages created by the state within the plan for reconstruction after the Second World War
Locations on the route:
-The historical center of Garbagnate, whose beautiful courts serve as a testimony to its agricultural past
- Lainate, whose history is connected to the events surrounding the Visconti Borromeo family
-Arese, where Alfa Romeo factories, now defunct, were once implanted
- Bollate, whose name comes from the celtic "gneiss" or birch, which is plentiful in the region
-Senago, situated in Groane Park
- Limbiate and its territory have a rich history
- Cesate, one of the most green towns of Lombardy
