What to See in Busto Arsizio - Top Sights and Attractions

The Agora of Fencing is a museum entirely dedicated to fencing located in Busto Arsizio, at the former Bustese Cotton Mill.

It was founded in 2012 at the behest of Cesare Vago, president of Pro Patria Scherma, a century-old sports club based in the rooms adjacent to the museum, with the support of the Busto Arsizio municipal administration and the Italian Fencing Federation.

The main core of the museum consists of the Longhi collection, donated by Florentine psychiatrist Silvio Longhi, consisting of hundreds of objects, including foils, sabers and swords for sports, dueling and military use, bayonets, fencers' training equipment, masks, gloves and plates. Also inside the museum are pieces from Nedo Nadi's personal collection purchased by master curator Giancarlo Toràn.

In addition to numerous objects, the museum counts the presence of various documents, treatises, books and jurisprudential texts on dueling, particularly focusing on the history of sport fencing since the second half of the 19th century. Completing the museum's collection are numerous photographs and films from various eras.

The shrine of Santa Maria di Piazza is located in the historic center of Busto Arsizio, where an earlier church dedicated to Our Lady stood, which in turn had replaced a chapel dating back to the time of Christianization. This splendid Marian shrine was quickly built between 1515 and 1522.

Two names appear in the documents dealing with the construction of the temple: that of Antonio da Lonate (author of the model for the Vigevano cathedral) and that of "magistro Tomaxio ingeniero," probably Tommaso Rodari, the well-known sculptor and architect active in the Como cathedral and a pupil of Giovanni Antonio Amadeo. The former would have set the central plan, for which a Bramantesque design, "Bramanti secutus exemplar," has been speculated; the latter would have executed the two portals to the west and south, and perhaps the elegant loggia in the drum under the dome similar to the tiburium of the sanctuary of the Beata Vergine dei Miracoli at Saronno, attributed to Amadeo.

The Museum of Sacred Art of St. Michael the Archangel is one of two private museums in the city of Busto Arsizio and is housed inside some parish premises near the thousand-year-old bell tower of the Church of St. Michael the Archangel.

The creation of the museum was the consequence of the collection of material from the parish of St. Michael the Archangel, begun in 1975. In 1988, a systematic study of individual works was initiated under the direction of Lia de Pra Cavalleri, Giuseppe Gualmo and Emanuele Bisterzo, with the collaboration of the Lombardy Superintendency of Cultural Heritage.

The Museum of Sacred Art preserves paintings from the end of the 16th century and the first half of the following century that are fundamental to the history of the city Busto Arsizio, such as "St. Charles in the act of blessing Busto," a 17th-century work depicting the cardinal who elevated Busto Arsizio to a plebeian see in 1583. Also inside the museum are notable works and works of goldsmithing including "The Processional Crosses" (the oldest, of Lombard goldsmithing, dates back to the 16th century).

The exhibits also include four ancient codices dated between the 14th century and the 17th century (including a miscellaneous musical antiphonary, manuscripted on 108 sheets of paper) as well as a collection of ancient prints. Visitors (the museum can be visited upon request) can also admire tear-offs of frescoes with motifs of popular religiosity and a rich documentation of the decoration of the church of St. Michael the Archangel at the beginning of the 20th century. Finally, a collection of miscellaneous works of religious inspiration created by contemporary authors is available.

The church of Madonna in Campagna is a religious building in Sacconago, a hamlet in the municipality of Busto Arsizio. It is dedicated to Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows.

At the time of its construction it stood on the road called in Longù, which connected Sacconago with Lonate and Ferno. The term Longù comes from the Latin longorius, which means "long pole": this is probably because at one time the territory around the church was occupied by woods from which wood was obtained for the production, precisely, of poles.

The church was built on an earlier country chapel, as evidenced by the fact that Cardinal Carlo Borromeo, on a visit to Sacconago in 1582 mentions only the parish church and the church of San Donato, while the church of Madonna in Campagna is found in a document by Giuseppe Pozzobonelli of 1753, referred to as "Beata Vergine Maria in campagna."

Construction of the present church dates back to 1702 and was completed in 1704. On March 23, 1704, Easter Day, it was blessed by Stefano Custodi. The consul of Busto Arsizio Carlo Crespi was also present at the ceremony. The building was decorated with a painting of the Pieta. Cardinal Pozzobonelli described the church in these words, "Barrel vault, tile floor, plastered and whitewashed walls inside, a door in the facade and two small windows on the sides. On the back wall, the painting of Our Lady holding the body of the dead Christ." On the left side of the church facade was a bell supported by masonry pillars.

The Pieta fresco depicts Mary in the center holding Jesus with her right hand, while her left hand is raised and with an open palm. Behind these two figures was a background depicting Golgotha with the three empty crosses. During the restorations ordered by parish priest Don Luigi Caimi, however, it was discovered that originally the background was much simpler: a single red cloth, now brought to light by restorers. The painting dates back to the 15th century, so the chapel preceding the present church was already present in the 15th century.

The sacristy dates from the second half of the 16th century. From a description in 1753 the church appeared to be plastered in the facing and not on the two sides, while the portico that stands today in front of the entrance was still absent, although during the restoration of the church this appeared to be in structural continuity with the main body of the church (this portico may date from the 19th century).

The present bell gable tower was built in 1950 and housed the bell that was donated by residents of nearby farmsteads.

Today the old road in Longù remains only partially beside the church, replaced by asphalt roads made necessary by urban renewal in the early 21st century.

The shrine of St. Charles Borromeo is a votive capital located in Busto Arsizio, on Via Giacomo Matteotti, originally called contrada Pessina, near the Canavesi-Bossi house. It stands where once there was probably a public well and a monastery, now demolished, in a crucial location, as the street was a passageway for processions from the churches of Santa Maria and San Giovanni to the church of San Michele Arcangelo.

The construction of the shrine dates back to the mid-17th century, a few years after the death of St. Charles, to whom the citizens of Busto Arsizio were particularly devoted. It is a small temple consisting of three cross-vaulted arches supported by four columns resting on stone plinths. The back wall is shared with the house to which the aedicule is leaning and probably originally shared with it the tile roofing, now replaced with a four-sloped copper slab. In the center of the chapel is a statue depicting the saint dating from 1892, when it was placed here during restoration work to replace an older pictorial work that was lost. The statue holds its left hand raised to grip the crosier, which has been lost.

The statue of St. Charles Borromeo is made of finely worked plaster, so much so that the laces on the robe appear to be made of real cloth. Behind the statue are faces of angels, also made of plaster, surrounding the saint. Closing the aedicule is an 18th-century wrought-iron gate. The marble altar placed in front of the statue would also belong to the same period.