アルツァーゴ・ダッダのおすすめライド

The imposing water wheel (about eleven meters in diameter) was built in the early 17th century by Cardinal Federico Borromeo to lift water from the canal and convey it to the nearby Archbishop's Palace. A washhouse can be seen near the wheel.

A suggestive glimpse of the wheel of a watermill, visible from the small bridge over the Acqua Rossa canal.

In the center of town, on the right bank of the Martesana Canal, stands an imposing waterwheel (popularly known as a rudun) said to have been designed by Leonardo da Vinci himself. Despite appearances, the wheel is not a mill, but a noria. Its function, in fact, was never to grind grain or power machinery, but rather to lift water from the canal to channel it into an irrigation system.

We are in Groppello, a hamlet in the municipality of Cassano d'Adda, and we must go back in time to 1618, when Cardinal Federico Borromeo commissioned this large wheel to convey the water needed to irrigate the vegetable gardens and gardens of the Archbishop's Villa. It is said that this majestic work, at the Cardinal's request, was designed by Leonardo da Vinci himself. Which, if anything, adds to its charm.

Great ride

Is there an entrance fee?

Gravel facile

Along the Adda in the footsteps of Leonardo Da Vinci. The starting point to reach the Sanctuary can be from the Chiesina degli Alpini, a small oratory from the 17th century from which you can enjoy a beautiful view of both Ponte and the Adda Valley. The stretch of the river here clearly harks back to the memory of Leonardo Da Vinci both for the famous system of locks that allowed boats to overcome the difference in height created by the construction of the Robbiate dam and which powers the hydroelectric power plants and for the reference to the painting of the Virgin of the Rocks, whose landscape can be traced back to the stretch of river that goes from Paderno to Cornate d’Adda. You go along the river passing under the Bridge (Ponte San Michele), a marvel from the late 19th century and going along the Naviglio and the Adda canyon you arrive at the steps that lead to the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Rocchetta, a place built to control the bend of the river that watches over the Adda