Discover Masate

Masate - Masate is a small Lombard town in the province of Milan; rises 153 meters above sea level and has 3,200 inhabitants. Surprisingly enough, it boasts a remarkable artistic and cultural heritage. Very pleasant is the Church of Santa Maria Ausiliatrice, built in the 1950s on the site where the old cemetery of San Rocco stood; inside it is worth mentioning a valuable fresco from the school of Fra Angelico.

The most significant church is certainly that of San Giovanni Evangelista, neoclassical from 1832, notable is the dome, a wooden statue of the Madonna from the 1600s from a single linden tree and a bas-relief depicting the Last Supper. Masate stands on a hill once cultivated with vines, then converted to the textile industry. The first documents on Masate date back to the 11th century, in the Middle Ages it followed the fate of the Duchy of Milan. The most famous noble families were the Trivulsio and the Visconti di San Giorgio. Masate was known for the extraction of clay, then with the explosion of reinforced concrete for construction, this activity fell into decline. The abandoned quarries were filled with water and turned into artificial basins; there are three, called foppe, an ideal habitat for ducks, newts and turtles. Last mention for the San Narbone farmhouse, on the outskirts of the town, inside which is the 13th century Oratory of San Narbone.