Colturano between churches, bridges and agricultural landscapes

Colturano is a destination for you if you would like to combine Italian local history with an agriculturally shaped environment. The complex “ex Monastero di Colturano” is also known as “Palazzo Visconti Fregoso” and is located in the centre of the agriculturally shaped village of Colturano. When choosing a hotel for your stay, you can take this combination of a historic village setting and rural character as a guiding theme for planning your trip.

Village centre and parish church

The Chiesa di Sant’Antonino is the parish church of Colturano. It was restored in 1903. For travellers interested in culture, the church combines the building’s religious function with a clear historical date. The church is therefore a specific point of reference for anyone wishing to get to know a place through its religious buildings and their architectural history.

Agriculture, water and marcite

The Parco Agricolo Sud Milano is located within the municipality of Colturano. The village’s agricultural character can be explained historically through irrigation: Cistercian monks used irrigation in Colturano and Balbiano to make the agricultural land more fertile. The historic irrigation system around Colturano and Balbiano comprised canals, ditches, rogge and roggeini for irrigating the cultivated land. The historic agricultural system in Colturano also included marcite, where up to ten or eleven grass cuttings per year were possible. This gives you a landscape theme that concerns not only nature, but also the work involved with water and soil. Anyone wishing to understand rural areas as the result of human cultivation will find a concrete point of access to this in Colturano.

Balbiano and its bridges

Balbiano is an old settlement that developed around the modern Church of San Giacomo Maggiore. In 1573, a wooden bridge was built there so that the residents could reach the church. The Ponte Vecchio di Balbiano is also known as Ponte Spagnolo; it is a brick and stone bridge built in 1765 over the Torrente Addetta. The stele associated with the Ponte Vecchio di Balbiano is made of Candoglia marble, the same marble used for Milan Cathedral. For a cultural and historical exploration of the village, settlement, church, bridge construction and material are closely connected thematically here. If construction methods and local history are among your interests, the stele additionally provides a clear indication of the significance of the material used.

A literary trace in Colturano

The literary trail also leads to Colturano. The poet Antonio Fileremo Fregoso lived in Colturano in the 16th century. The Biblioteca di Colturano preserves a copy of his work Riso di Democrito “Et Pianto de Eraclito”, which is associated with Colturano as its place of writing. Alongside its buildings and irrigation areas, the village therefore also has a specific connection to literature. If you connect architectural, local and literary traces on your travels, these aspects of Colturano can be considered together during a stay.

More places for your trip: Cisliano, Basiglio, Paullo, Melegnano, San Donato Milanese, Mediglia, Bresso, Binasco

For the overarching travel overview: Milan.