Every design for Cologno Monzese

Step out at Cologno Centro on the Milan Metro and you are in a town that runs straight on from the city, with no gap in between. Cologno Monzese shares a short border with Milan and has long since grown into its continuous urban fabric, with Cologno Nord and Cologno Sud completing its three stations on the line.

What makes it unusual is how much of Italian television comes from here: the Mediaset TV studios stand in Cologno, alongside radio networks such as Radio Italia. The town grew fast after the Second World War, when many families from southern Italy, especially Apulia, settled here, and in 1996 it received the honorary title of city. Its name is far older than all that, from the Roman Colonia super Lambrum on the bank of the Lambro.

The Villa Besozzi Casati, seat of the comune, and the Romanesque church of San Giuliano are the quiet counterweight to the studios, reason enough to wear a town that is more than a Milan suburb.