The Olona Valley cycle path (Twenty kilometres of art, nature and industrial architecture)
From Castellanza to Gornate Olona, running alongside the old Valmorea railway and the Olona river, the cycle path offers both sportier types and mere enthusiasts an easy route with facilities, and the chance to discover the many archaeological and naturalistic treasures of the Olona Valley along the way.
The route stretches over a flat area, slightly varied by a number of gentle inclines. The path has facilities and is protected along its entire length with benches, litter bins, fences and information panels, with the exception of two short stretches on low-traffic local roads (320 metres at Lonate Ceppino and 80 metres at Gorla Minore).
The Olona Valley cycle path provides an excellent opportunity to explore the historical, artistic and naturalistic treasures of the land that it crosses.
The route runs parallel to the old Valmorea railway, which was built at the beginning of the twentieth century to connect Castellanza with Lonate Ceppino and subsequently extended as far as Mendrisio, in Switzerland. Low passenger numbers and the crisis that struck the many paper mills that sprang up along it at the end of the nineteen-seventies led the company that operated it (Ferrovie Nord) to abandon this stretch of tracks, which survives today as an interesting artefact of the area's industrial history. Similarly, the numerous and often imposing factories which were built along the Olona recount a significant chapter in the development of these areas, which were once founded on the flourishing activity of paper and cotton mills. The Mulino del Sasso mill, in Olgiate Olona, is a rare example of an even more archaic economic system.
On reaching the stretch that crosses the municipality of Lonate Ceppino, the cycle path offers visitors an interesting glimpse of local wildlife. Pedalling for around a kilometre along the banks of the Olona they are very likely to have the chance to admire the grey heron.
The Olona Valley cycling and walking path also offers an excellent chance to become acquainted with the local area's historical and artistic treasures. Well worth a visit is the Monastery of Santa Maria Assunta in Cairate, an ancient Benedictine cloister dating back to the eighth century. Founded by a Lombard noblewoman, it is richly frescoed, with painstaking restoration work having been entrusted to the Province of Varese.
Not far away, in the Valley of Torba, an outlying hamlet of Gornate Olona, it is possible to visit the monastery of the same name, which is the property of FAI. Founded as a Roman military outpost, it was subsequently acquired by Benedictine nuns who lived in it until 1453. It conserves a number of valuable frescoes from the late eighth century.
Atop of the hill at the foot of which stands the Monastery of Torba lies Castelseprio, an ancient Roman-era fortified village of extraordinary archaeological and artistic value by virtue of the cycle of frescoes painted in the church of Santa Maria Foris Portas by an anonymous master.
Just a couple of kilometres separate Gornate Olona, the final stage of the cycling and walking route, from Castiglione Olona, "an island of Tuscany in Lombardy", a village dating to the Renaissance which conserves works by Masolino da Panicale and other fifteenth-century Tuscan masters.
The route stretches over a flat area, slightly varied by a number of gentle inclines. The path has facilities and is protected along its entire length with benches, litter bins, fences and information panels, with the exception of two short stretches on low-traffic local roads (320 metres at Lonate Ceppino and 80 metres at Gorla Minore).
The Olona Valley cycle path provides an excellent opportunity to explore the historical, artistic and naturalistic treasures of the land that it crosses.
The route runs parallel to the old Valmorea railway, which was built at the beginning of the twentieth century to connect Castellanza with Lonate Ceppino and subsequently extended as far as Mendrisio, in Switzerland. Low passenger numbers and the crisis that struck the many paper mills that sprang up along it at the end of the nineteen-seventies led the company that operated it (Ferrovie Nord) to abandon this stretch of tracks, which survives today as an interesting artefact of the area's industrial history. Similarly, the numerous and often imposing factories which were built along the Olona recount a significant chapter in the development of these areas, which were once founded on the flourishing activity of paper and cotton mills. The Mulino del Sasso mill, in Olgiate Olona, is a rare example of an even more archaic economic system.
On reaching the stretch that crosses the municipality of Lonate Ceppino, the cycle path offers visitors an interesting glimpse of local wildlife. Pedalling for around a kilometre along the banks of the Olona they are very likely to have the chance to admire the grey heron.
The Olona Valley cycling and walking path also offers an excellent chance to become acquainted with the local area's historical and artistic treasures. Well worth a visit is the Monastery of Santa Maria Assunta in Cairate, an ancient Benedictine cloister dating back to the eighth century. Founded by a Lombard noblewoman, it is richly frescoed, with painstaking restoration work having been entrusted to the Province of Varese.
Not far away, in the Valley of Torba, an outlying hamlet of Gornate Olona, it is possible to visit the monastery of the same name, which is the property of FAI. Founded as a Roman military outpost, it was subsequently acquired by Benedictine nuns who lived in it until 1453. It conserves a number of valuable frescoes from the late eighth century.
Atop of the hill at the foot of which stands the Monastery of Torba lies Castelseprio, an ancient Roman-era fortified village of extraordinary archaeological and artistic value by virtue of the cycle of frescoes painted in the church of Santa Maria Foris Portas by an anonymous master.
Just a couple of kilometres separate Gornate Olona, the final stage of the cycling and walking route, from Castiglione Olona, "an island of Tuscany in Lombardy", a village dating to the Renaissance which conserves works by Masolino da Panicale and other fifteenth-century Tuscan masters.
