A PROVINCE TO BE EXPLORED - Visita Milano

Besana in Brianza
Municipal website: www.comune.besanainbrianza.mi.it
Pro Loco: via Dante Alighieri 13. Tel. and fax: 0362915289
Websiteb: www.prolocobesana.it E-mail: info@prolocobesana.it
Distance from Monza: 16 km. Distance from Milan: 33 km. Map reference: C 4
The finds, in the late 19th century in the Valle Guidino
district, of tablets b earing Roman inscriptions
suggest the origins of Besana date back to, at least 69
AD. There was probably a Roman religious site here
and a saltus (pasture) that belonged to a Roman General
named Verginius Rufus. In the Middle Ages, the
area was dominated by the Da Besana family, who
were Milanese nobles and for at least three centuries,
feudal lords of the country c hurch of Agliate (located
beyond the Lambro; birthplace of Garibert, Archbishop
of Milan from 918). Various elements in the
old centre of via Castello (a large wall in a fish-scale
pattern, an entrance arch, a building with a pointed
arch, and a vast underground room with a barrel
vault) recall the castle (9-12th cent.) built by the local
lords. The autonomous communities of Bes ana,
Montesiro, Valle, Cazzano, Villa Raverio, Vergo, Zoccorino
and Calò formed around the c hurches. Under
the Habsburgs, these became communes, remaining
as such until 1869 when they were united into a
single entity known as Bes ana in Brianza. T he municipality
has an impressive 34 villas on its books.
The 19th-century Villa Filippini seen from the park and, above, from via Viarana
Monza and its province
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