Stage 1 – From S. Giuliano in Pomario to S. Agostino

Description

Starting from the wide parvis of S. Giuliano, cross via Brambilla and continue on via Maurizio Monti, built in 1825 on a pre-existing field path, staying on the right side of the street. Cross via Lega Insurrezionale and follow on via Maurizio Monti. After a rather narrow first stretch, the street becomes wider; have a look to the recently restored popular fresco above your head on the right, above the opening of a carriage way. Stay on the right side, passing over the siege of the Bank of Desio (small paying time-zone parking), until you reach Piazza del Popolo. At the end of via Maurizio Monti, on the right, stood the Hospital of S. Gottardo, later transformed in an orphanage, then in a hospice and eventually demolished. On the left, the site of the ancient monastery of S. Lorenzo. Its surviving cloister was still accessible until recently, but is now closed behind a door.

Turn right without crossing; the wide square you are approaching is now called Piazza del Popolo (People’s Square); before the foundation of the roman town of Novum Comum, this was a ditch, alimented by the torrent Valduce and by other ripples descending from the mount of Brunate. The square is dominated by the “Casa del Fascio”, masterpiece of Giuseppe Terragni, the greatest exponent of the architectural movement called Razionalismo. Cross via dei Partigiani and Piazza del Popolo, passing in front of the aforementioned great white building, which currently hosts the local headquarters of the Revenue Guard Corp. Cross via Pessina, walk the first few meters of via Manzoni and, right after the traffic lights, turn right in via Rezzonico; halfway between via Manzoni and the next crossing, see on your left the former convent of S. Antonio. Continue along via Rezzonico until you reach Via Brambilla: cross this street on the pedestrian stripes, and then take the turning on your left. Cross via Rezzonico (pedestrian crossing) and keep straight on until you reach Piazza Amendola, where you will find the church and ancient convent of S. Agostino.

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