Visit Date: October 12, 2019, at approximately 11:00 a.m.
For 2019, we are bringing back Italy’s Most Beautiful Villages after a five-year hiatus. We visited many of these villages on our spring trip. And we continued our visits in the fall. The first beautiful village on our fall trip is this one, Cassinetta di Lugagnano, which is the result of the merger of Cassinetta, created in the 14th century, and Lugagnano (Lucanianus in Roman times), which has been around since Roman times.
The location is close to the west side of Milan, about 40 minutes by car. It is also close to Malpensa airport.
We rented a car at Malpensa airport and headed directly from there. When we arrived at the village, the first thing we saw was a lovely canal.
This one is called « Grand Canal Naviglio » and it goes to the downtown of Milan. I visited the Naviglio Canal when I visited Milan four years ago. The following is the record of that time. By the way, this is the stage of the canal which appears in the scene of Ghibli movie « The Red Pig ».
https://www.yuu-koma.jp/?p=9486
It was a Saturday morning, so there were few people and it was very quiet. The weather was generally fine with a few clouds. It was a bit muggy, but it was the perfect weather for a pleasant walk.
On the main street of the village, there is the town hall and the church (Santa Maria Nascente). We could enter the church, which was built in the 15th century, according to the official website. The soft pink interior was very comfortable. It looks like the inside was restored relatively recently.
The canal goes on for a long time, and I saw a lot of people enjoying cycling because it was a holiday. This area is relatively flat, and it should be flat because it is a canal, but cycling from Milan to the canal and back looks like a lot of fun. I think there are more cities like Milan in Europe than in Japan, where you can easily enjoy cycling like this even in a big city. I’m jealous.
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