A PROVINCE TO BE EXPLORED - Visita Milano

Vimercate
the original medieval structure. Both the
convent
and the c hurch have 14th-century frescoes, including
a notable Crucifixion and S aints (1354) tha t is
Giottoesque.
The modern hospital is built over the original
S. Damiano hospital (12th cent.). This building was
altered in the late 18th century, using a design by
Pietro Castelli and renovated in 1825 by Pietro Gilardoni.
Nowadays, you can see the combination of
the early 20th-century appearance (the work of Antonio
Corbetta, 1901-03) and the enlargement work
from the 1960s.
South of Vimercate, at the b order with Burago
Molgora and on the side of an old pilgrim hospice
(1248), you find Villa S. Maria Molgora Paveri
Fontana, sometimes called Villa Melzi Meli Lupi di
Soragna (private). This building is a combination of
16th-century style – the result of work commissioned
by Count Aloisio Melzi – and N eoclassicism. The
Italian garden and the English-style park, with numerous
tall trees, are superb.
In the Oreno district, you can find some of the
most h istorically i mportant b uildings i n the z one.
The 15th-century Borromeo Hunting Lodge is a good
example of a type of architecture that was once common
in Milan and the environs. It also has a fresco
cycle from the 15th century – in late -Gothic style
with t ouches of H umanism – o f b ear a nd f alcon
hunting. This lodge belongs to Villa Borromeo Arese,
which is from the 16th century, but redone on vari-
Casa Banfi, the ruins of the
old convent of S. Francesco
Late-Gothic frescoes at the 15th-century Borromeo Hunting Lodge
Monza and its province
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