mastro Orso

Along this route that winds
across one of the most interesting
areas in Milan, you will
find the unbeatable allure of
Navigli. Riding your bicycle,
you will be accompanied by the
charming canal at your side,
starting from the Lombard capital,
which prides itself on these
waters.
The Naviglio Pavese
Following the Naviglio Pavese
you will embark on a journey
among the Lombard history, culture,
tradition and art, which
have steeped the southerner plain
of Milan for the last millennium.
If you think of the time needed to
build this stretch (five centuries,
from 1359 to 1819), you will
immediately realize that the route
you are riding on was one of the
most important shipping routes in
the region, on the historical point
of view. It starts form the wet
dock of Porta Ticinese, Milan,
and ends at the convergence point
with the Ticino River, near Pavia.
Along its 33 km, especially in the
Milanese area, typical barges are
still visible, now transformed into
floating restaurants and pubs.
Among a landscape made of
sheds, malls and bypass roads,
you will enter almost immediately
the countryside that the Cistercians
of Bernard of Clairvoux
cultivated many centuries ago
with the water meadow system
called “marcita”. In Binasco,
surrounded by a thick network of
minor canals, the Castello Visconteo,
now the town hall, is
worth a visit. Casarile heralds the
province of Pavia where the
splendid architecture of Certosa
is located, i.e. in the homonymous
town based in Torre del
Màngano. The abbey, built by
Gian Galeazzo Visconti in 1396,
is an enormous sacred complex
that includes the church and the
buildings for the monks. Soon after
the woodland belt, you will
arrive in Borgatello, an ancient
farmers’ town, reaching the convergence
point with the Ticino
River. You will enter then Pavia,
a gemstone of art and history,
with thousands of monuments,
impressive towers and the renowned
university.
The Naviglio Grande
20 km long, from Milan to
Abbiategrasso, the cycle-pedestrian
route runs through the final
strip of Naviglio Grande,
which is the oldest of the canals
that formed the network of
Milanese navigli. Keeping the
canal at your right, you cycle up
the Naviglio from Porta Genova
Station to Abbiategrasso. The
towpath will appear after you
pass by the big Milanese southwestern
district, which was built
in the late nineteenth century as
an industrial area and workers’
residence; the several typical
courtyards and the balconies are
a memory of its long gone past.
After Corsico, the next stage is
Trezzano sul Naviglio, an agricultural
village, formerly known
as “Treciano”.
It was built around two monasteries,
one Cartusian and the latter
Cistercian – they are private
homes now. In Gaggiano, visitors
are mesmerized by Palazzo
Marino, the first and most striking
example of the villas and
mansions built by nobility and
high class people in this part of
the canal.
Riding further westward up to the
elbow made by the Naviglio,
which here flows side by side with
the Ticino River, you will arrive
in Castelletto, once a walled town
where one of the first bridges on
the canal was built, in 1264. The
seventeenth century Palazzo dei
Cittadini, owned by a Milanese
family, and the seventeenth century
Casa della Regia Camera or
del Custode, a former residence
of the Constable of the Naviglio
Grande and Head of the Police
Administration of Waters, are the
best architectural sites. Abbiategrasso
is further west.
The Naviglio Martesana
The route along the Naviglio
Martesana – the canal which
links the Adda River to the Lombard
capital – offers a green landscape
spotted by farmsteads and
old cottages nestled between the
lower and higher Milanese plains.
As soon as you leave Milan behind,
you will notice the first
country houses that lead the way
into the countryside. After some
kilometres and few thrusts on the
pedals, you will see the town of
Vimodrone, an ancient resort for
the Milanese aristocrats. The architectonic
jewel of Villa Alari
Visconti is an example of this period,
surrounded by a splendid
garden, which is mirrored in the
Naviglio’s waters. Despite the
fact that the area is highly urbanized,
the cycle track winds among
mazes of hedges and gardens,
passing by Villa Fiorita, near
Cassina de’ Pecchi, up to
Gorgonzola, whose main sighs
are the nineteenth century
church, Villa Sola Busca and
Palazzo Serbelloni, which hosts
the local hospital.
In Cassano d’Adda, the final destination
of this route, the cycletourists
will be fascinated by the
splendid Villa Borromeo, built in
the first eighteenth Century, but
transformed by Piermarini in
1781. He applied a neo-classical
flavour to the building.
• Sotto:
i riflessi
delle case
conferiscono
a Milano
il nome di città
d’acqua
• Below:
houses mirrored
in the canals
give Milan
the name of “city
of water”
26 The canals of Milan • The Navigli
27