San Colombano al Lambro is the only exclave of the Metropolitan City of Milan, bordering solely on towns of the Lodi and Pavia provinces. It stands on an isolated hill in the plain, whose profile suggests the last remnant of a wider ridge worn away by rivers: the highest point reaches 147 metres. Those slopes carry the vines of San Colombano, the only controlled-origin wine of the province of Milan. When the province of Lodi was created in 1992, a referendum asked residents which side to take, and they chose Milan.
The name comes from the Irish monk Columbanus, who, protected by the Lombard rulers Agilulf and Theodelinda, halted here on his way to Bobbio. The arms hold two memories: the red cross on silver is said to recall an old dependence on Pavia's district, while the dove is thought to have been devised by Petrarch, on a stay in Pavia, for the young Gian Galeazzo Visconti, heir to the estate through his mother Bianca di Savoia. On the Lodi road stands the Portone, raised by the Carthusians in 1691 for the privilege by which Charles II of Spain gave the town the title of borgo insigne: it was to start a wall around the whole settlement, but the work stopped and the borgo stayed open.
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📅 Every year, on 21 November; 16 August, for two centuries, brings the exposition of Saint Roch's relic
San Colombano al Lambro celebrates Saint Columban on 21 November. For nearly two centuries, on 16 August, the feast of Saint Roch, the Oratory has opened to the public in the morning for Mass and in the evening for a solemn blessing with the exposition of the saint's relic.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside San Colombano al Lambro, but an easy day trip away.
