San Donato Milanese

San Donato was probably founded by an abbot of Chiaravalle, and the name comes from the old pieve church dedicated to Saint Donatus, bishop of Arezzo, much venerated in the archdiocese of Milan: a Lombard village named after a Tuscan bishop. In notarial deeds of the ninth and tenth centuries San Donato already appears, along with the hamlets of Bolgiano and Triulzio. For almost a thousand years not much happened, and where the Metanopoli quarter stands today there was only a farmstead, the cascina Moro.

Then, in 1952, Enrico Mattei arrived. Metanopoli — the capital of methane — is the town Eni built around itself: the head offices, the garden districts for employees, the services, the sports centre. It is an experiment in corporate town planning unique in Italy, and you can still read it by walking through. The finest piece is the church of Santa Barbara, which Mattei wanted and which was inaugurated in 1955 to a design by Mario Bacciocchi: inside is a mosaic of 700 square metres by Vincenzo Tomea of the Crucifixion, the ceiling has panels by Tommaso Cascella, and the bronze door was made by Arnaldo and Giò Pomodoro. Saint Barbara, after all, is the patron of those who work underground. The old borough around the parish church recalls the farming village that was here before; the abbeys of Viboldone and Chiaravalle are minutes away, and by the yellow metro line the Duomo is a quarter of an hour off.