The best road cycling routes around Burago Di Molgora

Monza Park is one of the largest historic parks in Europe and the largest walled enclosure, with over 700 hectares of extension. Established in 1805 by Napoleon, it hosts the famous Royal Villa, the Royal Gardens, and the National Autodrome, offering nature, sport, and culture. It is accessible for free every day. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

The Monza park is always a spectacle in spring

Naviglio della Martesana is perhaps the least known of the ancient artificial canals connecting Milan to the great Lombard rivers. It originates from the Adda in Concesa, a hamlet of Trezzo d’Adda, crosses the Martesana sub-region, northeast of the provincial capital, and once in the city, it plunges underground beneath Via Melchiorre Gioia, at the height of Cassina de’ Pomm. It measures approximately 38 km in length, with a width varying from 9 to 18 meters. However, once upon a time, the Naviglio della Martesana continued in the open air all the way to the center, where a lock system centered on the Conca dell’Incoronata connected it to the short Naviglio di S. Marco and the urban network of the Navigli. The lock was inaugurated in 1496, utilizing lock gates designed by Leonardo da Vinci. The canal had been opened in 1471, under Francesco Sforza. By connecting it to the other Navigli, Leonardo laid the foundations for realizing a dream of the Sforzas: to travel by water from the Ticino, and therefore from Lake Maggiore, all the way to the Adda.

The imposing water wheel (about eleven meters in diameter) was built in the early 17th century by Cardinal Federico Borromeo to lift water from the canal and convey it to the nearby Archbishop's Palace. A washhouse can be seen near the wheel.

It is a complex of buildings enclosed by a wall, the historic block of which extends in a U-shape along the east-west axis. Despite neglect and numerous changes in use, which have led to extensive renovations, the interior still retains highly valuable spaces, with stuccoed and frescoed rooms depicting architectural motifs and mythological episodes, vaulted ceilings, generally pavilion-shaped masonry, or false reed vaults, or wooden coffered ceilings.

Villa Mirabello, a wonderful example of 17th-century architecture and residence, was built in the mid-17th century by the Durini family, who had purchased the fiefdom of Monza in 1648. The Durinis built a beautiful villa, with large halls for parties and receptions, named "Mirabello." Its U-shaped structure, open to the river landscape and featuring a courtyard, is of great structural significance, as it marks the transition from the typology of the walled country palace, typical of the 15th and 16th centuries, to the new concept of the palace-villa opening onto a scenic garden or park.

In the center of town, on the right bank of the Martesana Canal, stands an imposing waterwheel (popularly known as a rudun) said to have been designed by Leonardo da Vinci himself. Despite appearances, the wheel is not a mill, but a noria. Its function, in fact, was never to grind grain or power machinery, but rather to lift water from the canal to channel it into an irrigation system.

We are in Groppello, a hamlet in the municipality of Cassano d'Adda, and we must go back in time to 1618, when Cardinal Federico Borromeo commissioned this large wheel to convey the water needed to irrigate the vegetable gardens and gardens of the Archbishop's Villa. It is said that this majestic work, at the Cardinal's request, was designed by Leonardo da Vinci himself. Which, if anything, adds to its charm.