A fabulous island on the river at few steps from Milan: a weekend in Cassano d'Adda, Italy
Visit this beautiful city is to immerse yourself in the gentle atmosphere of the Adda river landscape, take in the many centuries of history of palaces and churches, and shake off the stress with perhaps a healthy bike ride along the Martesana Canal. Very different was the situation in ancient times: those who preceded us here, we came to prehistoric canoes, since a very large territory between the Adda and Serio, including the current Cassano, was covered by Gerundo Lake, a vast expanse of brackish water. In the lake there lived a terrible dragon named the Tarentaise who, when he was hungry, he approached the shore, and made slaughter of men, while stifling his breath tainted the surrounding air. The dragon, killed no one knows if the founder of the Visconti or St. Christopher, is remembered by many roads in the area named after the monster.
Our walk starts from the beautiful village Groppello, where you can admire the Oratory of St. Anthony, which contains a cycle of frescoes by the Flemish and the seventeenth-century palace of the archbishops, we discover a spectacular waterwheel, called Rudùn, built by Cardinal Carlo Borromeo to irrigate the orchards and gardens of the opposite Archbishop's House. Today is the southern gateway to the Eco Rudùn Adda of Leonardo.
In fact, if we had the opportunity to mix and match the many travelers that between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries reached Cassano, we could even meet Leonardo da Vinci, engaged in the work of designing the Navigli Lombardi.
To breathe a little 'air of past centuries, we move into the city center, where we visit the impressive castle, built around all'808. The fortress overlooking the Adda from a strategic and well preserves the memory of many atrocious fighting involving this area.
A few steps from the Castle we have gathered in the eighteenth century Lombardy, imagining that the noble journey of a carriage arrives at a certain point under the arches of the magnificent Villa Borromeo, preceded by a monumental courtyard.
Cassano d'Adda has religion since apostolic times, thanks to St. Barnabas who converted the inhabitants to the Christian faith. In addition, there is also the tomb of St. Denis, who, as legend has it, would be raised during the trip to Milan with his corpse. The saint revived, seeing the beauty of Cassano d'Adda, announced he would be buried in this beautiful town, as it did.
After visiting several beautiful churches in the city, we direct you to our home for this weekend: the Julia Hotel Restaurant, situated on bridges, between the river Adda and the Muzza Canal. The beautiful structure is composed by Villa Maggi Bridges, whose eclectic style rooms, including Neo-Gothic and Art Nouveau, have recently been restored to their former glory, the hotel, whose rooms are housed in the premises of the ancient customs on the border between the Republic of Venice and the Duchy of Milan, from the fourteenth century un'affascinantissima Tower and a large park where peacocks wander several wonderful. We settle in our elegant rooms, from which opens a fabulous view of the Muzza Canal and the city. We admire the decorations and objects created by Ms. Tiziana, the wife of Mr. Cristian, the holder. The family management is one of the many strengths of the structure, sought-after location for weddings and other ceremonies. In fact, the couple who celebrate the most important day of their lives at Villa Maggi Bridges, offered the first wedding night in the charming room located inside the ancient tower.
Having come here in autumn, we sit down for dinner in the Villa's old greenhouse, heated by the fireplace, but the owners tell us that during the summer you can eat in the spacious veranda in the park. We start with the tuna carpaccio with oranges and toasted pine nuts, raw fish and the excellent culatello Zibello with pineapple and toasted with butter. We follow these exquisite appetizers from Emilia fresh noodles with squid ink linguine with lobster and octopus. Among the latter we taste the grilled fillet of red tuna, fried fish platter with shrimp pink Sicily, sardines and squids, while some of us also taste good Fiorentina Chianina. Each course is accompanied by the best wine, selected from among various labels. We conclude this gourmet dinner with fabulous desserts and a cheese platter with honey truffle.
Spend a weekend out of time between these atmospheres, even though we were very close to Milan, was definitely a magical experience that will repeat in the near future.
Francesca Bertha
INFO:
www.comune.cassanodadda.mi.it
www.hoteljulia.info
Hotel Ristorante Julia
Villa Maggi Ponti
Isola Ponti, 1 Cassano d’Adda (MI)
Tel.: 0363/360360 0363/361298