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1 day History and legends Villages

The island of Tuscany in Lombardy

Photo: Sailko, CC BY 3.0 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Collegiata_di_castiglione_olona,_esterno_05.jpg)

When
All year round. On the first Sunday of the month there's the Fiera del Cardinale
Outbound
30 min
Return
30 min

Castiglione Olona is an old fifteenth-century village in the province of Varese. In the 1420s and 1430s Cardinal Branda Castiglioni had it redesigned according to the humanist utopia of the ‘ideal city’.

What to see in the village

  • Collegiata complex: the church of 1425 and the baptistery, with the fresco cycle by Masolino da Panicale.
  • Palazzo Branda Castiglioni: the cardinal’s house.
  • Chiesa di Villa, on the main square, inspired by Brunelleschi.
  • Castello di Monteruzzo and MAP, the Museo Arte Plastica.

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