The best cycling routes around Pantigliate

The cycle path between Malaspina (San Felice) and San Bovio is an easy and flat cycle-pedestrian route, ideal for leisure and commuting, which crosses the greenery between Segrate and Peschiera Borromeo. It passes along Lake Malaspina, near the quarry lakes and the Bosco della Besozza, offering a loop of about 9-10 km. [1, 2]

The Muzza canal (61 km long in total) is a branch of the Adda River and recently celebrated its 800th anniversary, making it one of the oldest in Europe. Its name, with slight variations over the centuries, still recalls the name of the Roman Mutia family who moved here in 90 BC, initiating the first land reclamation works. From the wide canal branch off smaller watercourses which, winding through the countryside for a total length of about 1000 kilometers, are mainly intended for agricultural irrigation. The landscape of countryside and farmhouses surrounding it is evocative, with alternating rows of trees and open fields. It is also very interesting from a naturalistic point of view as it attracts many water birds that can be observed along the route.

Well-kept and quiet place

Beautiful dirt road that can be cycled along the canal

The road owes its name to Duke Gabrio Servelloni, who purchased it from the Counts of Adda in 1760 to facilitate travel within his estates. This interpodal road, which follows the route of an ancient Roman centuriation, became a very important refuge during World War II. Surrounded by centuries-old trees and thick hedges, it was invisible to enemy aircraft, which dropped illuminating bombs at night to identify movements and potential targets. It is a mostly unpaved road that can only be traveled on foot or by bicycle and connects the municipalities of Rodano, Settala, and Pantigliate. Along the route, several active farms are still located in the Cascine di Cassinetta, Paradiso, Crocina, and Castello farms. This last farmhouse houses a museum of rural civilization. People came from the farms and neighboring villages such as Limito, Pobbiano, Trenzanesio, and Pioltello, which, being close to the Milan-Brescia railway line, were under constant bombardment from bombs dropped on the Segrate marshland and along the entire length of the railway. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the water system that had led to the reclamation of the Lombard plain was largely abandoned, returning this area to a marshy state. But already around the year 1000, the Cistercian monks, and later the Benedictine and Humiliati monks, restored and expanded the works built by the Romans, creating the current irrigation system that includes the Navigli and the Muzza canals—built between 1100 and 1400—and which was practically completed at the end of the 19th century with the opening of the Villoresi canal. The artefacts present in the area and visible along the “Strada del Duca” route can be dated from the 17th to the 19th century, the period in which the last brick and granite masonry works date back.

Like at the seaside, but at the Idroscalo

Nice canal, full of water and nice landscape. Dirt road sometimes a bit stony and uncomfortable, especially if you have thin wheels.

Cassano d’Adda, Villa Borromeo