Every design for Cesano Maderno

Cesano Maderno is known for Palazzo Arese Borromeo, the grand residence that anchors its old centre, and for the Seveso river that splits the town down the middle. In the Middle Ages the land answered to the nuns of the Monastero d'Aurona, and the name is traced to a Roman called Cisius, with Maderno pointing to an inheritance handed down the mother's line.

Walking through Parco Borromeo or past Palazzo Arese Borromeo Jacini, you sense that the town's noble past never quite left. Old houses such as Villa Dho sit among streets of later building, the Groane plateau lifts the western edge, and the Parco Naturale Bosco delle Querce gives Cesano a stretch of woodland of its own. Two railway stations tie it to Milan, yet the place keeps the feel of a Brianza town rather than a suburb.

Stand on the bridge on via Cavour and look down: there, in its artificial channel, the Comasinella stream ends its winding run across the plateau and slips quietly into the Seveso.