Things to see in Abbiategrasso

Abbiategrasso is in Lombardy, a town of 30-odd thousand which is part of the metropolitan city of Milan.

Abbiategrasso is entirely included in the Lombard Park of the Ticino Valley. It is along the "line of the fountains", which divides the upper Po Valley from the lower Po Valley.

The Abbiatense area, like the whole western Po valley, has been inhabited since the Bronze Age. It grew during Roman times; one battle between Hannibal and the Romans took place in the area, and the territory of Abbiategrasso was crossed by an important Roman road, the Via Gallica. Later the area was invaded by Celts and Lombards, and raided by Huns.

By 1034 Abbiategrasso was a possession of the Archbishop of Milan, who had a defensive outpost built.

Castello Visconteo, Piazza Castello. The castle was built starting from 1381 on the traces of a previous building, the castrum novum, owned by the archbishops of Milan. It was in a point of strategic importance between the Naviglio Grande and the Milan - Vigevano connection road. The castle became the summer residence of some duchesses. Until 1635 it played a defensive role for the Duchy of Milan. A few years later, the Governor of Milan began to dismantle it, so that it did not fall into the hands of the French. It has been subjected several times to important changes in the 15th, 17th and 19th centuries, the last of which aimed at using the remains of the castle as a private dwelling. It then became municipal property, first as a school and then as the seat of associations in the town of Abbiategrasso. An important restoration in 1995 recovered and enhanced the different superimpositions of the architectural structure and the various decorative elements.