Cassago Brianza

In the ninth book of the Confessions Augustine describes the months he spent in a country villa called Cassiciacum, where in 387 he prepared for his baptism by discussing philosophy with his friends and his mother. Where that villa stood nobody knows for certain: there are at least two candidates, Cassago in the Brianza and Casciago in the province of Varese. Cassago chose not to wait for proof and has built a whole apparatus around the hypothesis — the Rus Cassiciacum monumental park, the historical and archaeological park, the chapel, the monument, the pilgrim's hall and a walking route that carries the saint's name.

The municipality, four thousand four hundred and six inhabitants in the province of Lecco, has existed in its present form since 1927, when Cassago and Oriano Brianza were merged and Brianza was added to the name. In 1162 Frederick Barbarossa granted it in fief to Benedict of Hesse; it then passed to the Scaccabarozzi, the De Benedetti, the Pirovano and finally to the Visconti di Modrone, who left behind the ruins of their villa and their burial ground. The mausoleum, designed in 1836 by Giuseppe Chierichetti, is a neo-Gothic temple imitating the lantern tower of Milan cathedral, and it was built where a church dedicated to San Salvatore once stood.