Known for housing the Astronomic Observatory partner with the famous one in the charming Brera district of Milan, the city of Merate has a well preserved historical center with beautiful buildings of the eighteenth century. Today the cylindrical tower from Palazzo Prinetti stands where the old city castle used to be. The famous Alessandro Manzoni studied at the Merate's Somaschi priest school.
(ill. Panorama, postcard from 1930)
SAINT MARY RISING CONVENT OF SABBIONCELLO
Via San Antonio da Padova 5, Merate – 2,9km from Vescogna
The Franciscan Friar Convent of Sabbioncello is located on the road from Vescogna to Merate, at the top of a hill; it is reachable via the Via Crucis which is decorated with terracotta tiles from the 1960s. The building, already documented in 1157, was rebuilt and expanded in lombard gothic style in the beginning of the XVI century. Its interior is rich and decorated with frescos with images from the Luini school. The wall frescos at the Crucifix room are attributed to Fiamminghino.
ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY OF BRERA
Via Emilio Bianchi 46, Merate - info: 039.5971100 – 2,5km from Vescogna
The Astronomic Observatory, subsidiary from that one in Milan, was bought in 1923 by the then director Emilio Bianchi. It is situated at the Villa San Rocco in a wonderful park with secular plants and a garden with rhododendron, azalea and ortensia. Among the many astronomers who took house at the Observatory stands out Margherita Hack who worked there from 1954 until 1964. Nowadays the Observatory is the international leader of the technological development of the electromagnetic spectrum optics.
NATURAL RESERVE OF LAKE SARTIRANA
Sartirana, Merate – 1,2 km from Vescogna
At the foothil of Vescogna is the lake Sartirana, a natural oasis of great importance, coined in the green area as a pearl; surrounded by small canals, without creeks and fed by springs and despite its limited extent, it hosts an interesting bird life. Since the XVI century it was property of the Calco family, but from 1983 it became a Natural Reserve and Site of Community Interest.
THE NEW CHURCH OF SARTIRANA BRIANTEA
Piazza San Pietro 5, Merate – 1,2km from Vescogna
The New Church of Sartirana, consecrated in 1996, was designed by the swiss architect Mario Botta. The exterior of the building seems fearless and sober: the regular shape of the external cube allows an inside peak of the sinuous internal cylindric walls that define the aula and the oratory. Around the aula, between the cube and the cylinder, there are three circular paths arranged in different levels, the second path serving as a matronium (an internal balcony overlooking the main area of the church). The small dimensions of this church gave Botta total control of the elements that define its internal area. The result is an interesting space characterized by a skillful play of light and shade.