Built in 1776 by the architect Giulio Galliori as a dépendance for the guests of the literary and musical coterie of Cardinal Angelo Maria Durini at Mirabello, Villa Mirabellino stands opposite the main residence, to which it is connected by a tree-lined avenue that we will take as we return to our bikes.

It mirrors the former, with the wings of the U in the opposite direction after the model of the lower and upper Belvedere in Vienna, and on its façade we can still see the slightly protruding pronaos projecting onto a balconied terrace, framed by two side pillars and two Doric columns, while all that remains to indicate the entrance to the original Durini family chapel is a portal at the head of the building's northern wing. 

Home to a public boarding school for children from troubled families and commendably run by the Milan City Council in the 1950s and 1960s, Villa Mirabellino later became a centre for trade unions.

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Ph cover: fondoambiente.it