I tre balconi

9
Abstract
The thesis is organized around two main categories. 
The first focuses on research aimed at gathering 
valuable information about the development of 
Besana’s urban fabric, specifically that of Besana 
Superior and Besana Inferior, which were distinct 
realities. This analysis is based on an examination 
of several historical maps I have found, four of 
which are particularly significant. In conjunction 
with bibliographic research on the history of 
Besana, I was able to reconstruct a timeline 
of the town’s evolution. To make this easier to 
follow, I divided the entire history into seven 
periods, starting from the year 880. Through 
this research, I aim to provide a comprehensive 
understanding of Besana’s urban development 
over time. By examining both the historical maps 
and bibliographic sources, as well as analyzing the 
impact of various factors on the town’s evolution, 
I hope to shed light on the complex processes that 
have shaped Besana into what it is today.
At the conclusion of this first section, I presented a 
visual representation of the maps in chronological 
order, highlighting their transformations over 
time to illustrate how the city has evolved. The 
stark contrast between black ink on white paper 
serves as a powerful reminder of the changes that 
have taken place. Next, I delved into the heart of 
Besana’s urban fabric: its iconic square. Once a 
vibrant hub of activity, today it is marred by car 
parks and asphalt roads. This section is crucial in 
conveying to the reader the historical significance 
this square once held for centuries, serving as the 
city’s pride and joy. Through my research, I aim 
to recapture the essence of what has been lost, 
highlighting the importance of preserving our 
cultural heritage.
The square is flanked by two iconic landmarks: the 
Church of Saints Peter and Marcellinus and Villa 
Adda, which I further explored in my research.
I then conducted a comparative analysis between 
historic postcards of Besana’s square from years past 
and photographs taken during this current year 
(2024). The stark contrast that emerges reveals a 
profound transformation – once a vibrant hub of 
community activity, the square has given way to an 
asphalted expanse with preparations for car parks. 
This visual juxtaposition poignantly illustrates the 
loss of beauty and sense of community that has 
occurred over time.
The second part of this thesis focuses on ‘The Three 
Balconies’, a town-planning project that builds 
upon the previous analysis and aims to revitalize 
Besana’s square, restoring it to its former glory.
This ambitious undertaking required careful 
consideration and deliberate design. I sought to 
counteract the negative impacts inflicted upon the 
square over the past century with a few bold yet 
elegant gestures. The outcome is now for the reader 
to assess: have my efforts successfully redeemed this 
once-thriving public space?
the land
15
“The territory is all valleys and hills, which yield wine, fodder, 
hay, fruit, legumes and an abundance of mulberries. We are in 
the center of Brianza, and pleasant villas, and delightful gardens 
grow the enchantment of magnificent panoramas, and make 
this excursion very pleasant. Vergo, among pleasant vineyards, 
with Villa Decio and stupendous panoramas, the spire of Milan 
Cathedral standing out to the naked eye; and to the east Villa 
Raverio, near which was found a rock of native iron, now in 
the museum of Sant’Alessandro in Milan, and believed to be an 
aerolith. Here near the place called Guidino stands the pleasant 
villa Briosco. Valle, in sito ameno, wih villa Rossi and Caprotti, 
and Monte. There is the Besana house and the Villa Paradiso. In 
the nearby hamlet of Brugora, a Benedictine monastery. Besana 
is divided into lower and upper, has huge panoramas, and is very 
well manufactured. It is adorned with delightful villas, all with 
gardens. Cazzano, a village of Roman origin, has a pleasant site 
and feracious soil of cereals, wines and mulberries”. This is how 
Eugenio Corti descibes Besana and his territory inside one of the 
most relevant book written here in my town, “Il cavallo rosso”.
The municipality of Besana Brianza is located in the hilly area 
at the northern end of the province of Milan. It consists of a 
collection of various settlements and small detached nuclei, 
almost all situated on hilly heights or knolls with altitudes ranging 
from 270m in Calò, to 290m in Villa Raverio, Vergo Zoccorino, 
to 235m in Cazzano and Montesiro, and 359m in Besana, 
understood as the center and current seat of the Municipality. 
There is a map with the outline of Besana and its hamlets on 
the bottom. The numerous undulations of the morainic hills, 
the small valleys crossed by little streams, the panoramic points 
that frequently emerge, sometimes unexpectedly, while traveling 
along the roads connecting the different villages, make it one 
of the most picturesque areas of Brianza. The healthiness of the 
air and the pleasantness of the landscape ensured that, since the 
18th century, our area has always been considered a privileged 
place for the holidays of the inhabitants of the big city, Milan.
“...L’aria era fresca, pura. Da ovest il sole ormai basso illuminava 
tutto l’orizzonte settentrionale materializzato dal grande anfiteatro 
delle Prealpi, col Resegone, le due Grigne e il San Primo che ne 
emergevano. Uno dopo l’altro i paesi restarono indietro con le loro 
case vecchie e nuove, e i giardini verdi, e le molte piccole e medie 
fabbriche, li circondava la campagna, che gli mandava contro 
ondate d’erba, quasi volesse arginare e coprire le ferite inferte al bel 
paesaggio...”
“...The air was fresh, pure. From the west, the now low sun 
illuminated the entire northern horizon materialized by the great 
amphitheater of the Prealps, with Resegone, the two Grigne and San 
Primo emerging from it. One after another the villages remained 
behind with their old and new houses, and the green gardens, and 
the many small and medium-sized factories, surrounded by the 
countryside, which sent waves of grass against them, as if it wanted 
to stem and cover the wounds inflicted on the beautiful landscape...”
16
1 - Panorama of Besana
2 - Upper Besana in a painting from the 1800s
3 - The Resegone in the background of Besana
17
historical
maps
21
After telling the mayor of Besana, Emanuele Pozzoli, about my 
ideas, he referred me to city councilor Luca Viviani; that was 
how I got access to the historical maps of Besana. These historical 
maps were not arranged as seen on the facing page. Each of them 
had a small frontispiece where there were numbered all the boxes 
that made up the whole map, made by hand. After careful work 
I combined all the maps in order to get comparable elements 
between them so that I could investigate Besana’s evolution.
mAp 1266
The oldest map given to me is from 1266. In addition to providing 
an accurate perimeter of the territory at that time, which was not 
yet the municipality of Besana as it is today, one can see in red 
the parts, in the next page, that had some building within them, 
the heart of the urban fabric. Unfortunately, there are no traces 
of what buildings were there, the rest are all accurate deductions. 
The church of Saints Peter and Marcellinus (B), which we know 
was listed by Bussero in 1289, is clearly visible. In front of the 
church building is another part in red (C) which I deduced to 
be the first cemetery in Besana; before Napoleon III it was usual 
to have cemeteries adjacent to churches, in front or behind them 
(F). Also recognizable is the square (D) and the parish house (E)
Another peculiar fact about Besana recognizable in this map 
is the division of Besana itself. Since the year 1000 we know 
that Besana was divided into two parts, Besana Superiore and 
Inferiore, as can be seen written on the perimeter towards the 
southwest. This map thus represents only half of the development 
of today’s Besana. The Lower Part is in the next map.
mAp 1721
This map is 455 years older than the previous one and is not 
oriented to the north. The date, 1721, is clearly legible in the 
upper left part. This map is also divided into lots, fields and 
land holdings. There is also on the side what appears to be a 
legend with the various uses. The surveyor who made it was 
Bartolomeo Molciani, from July 17 to 23 of that year. Within 
the red mapping, again identifiable as the center of the urban 
fabric, there are numberings, with no legend.
mAp 1855 & 1902
These maps, on the other hand, are much more recent, 1855 
and 1902. The outlines and encumbrances of the buildings are 
present. In addition, the two urban fabrics are united. From 
1869 Besana Superiore and Inferiore were united into a single 
municipality but we know that as early as 1758 there was their 
first unification, as you will see in the next chapter.
After doing this work of collection and analysis, the maps were 
investigated and overlaid. This was done in order to understand, 
along with historical research, what the deeper origins of the 
urban fabric were, where it was born, where it had developed, 
and for what reasons in one direction rather than another. 
These maps are the basis of my work and they proved to be 
fundamental because without them I could not have done an 
accurate reconstruction of Besana’s development, historically 
and architecturally. Also, the main idea of the project itself came 
out after doing this thorough research.