The Franciscan church and convent date back to 1463 when the Friars Minor Observant settled in this peripheral area next to the course of the Lambro River, outside the walls that surrounded Monza. The church was erected in late Lombard Gothic forms in exposed brick; in the 17th century the portico in Baroque forms was added to the facade and the nearby stone bridge was built to facilitate pilgrims visiting the miraculous image of the Madonna, which is still preserved in the church.
After a disastrous fire following the suppression in Napoleonic times, the complex was restored in the 1930s and handed back to the Franciscans.
The CONVENT
Accompanying the Gothic church arose in the 15th century the Franciscan convent, originally composed of 4 large cloisters facing the course of the Lambro River.
The religious complex was profoundly modified in the 1700s with the insertion of architectural elements of Baroque taste, such as the portal that gave access to the convent spaces; subsequent interventions led to the current situation, which preserves an inner cloister closed on all four sides and porticoed.
Around the river remain the structures and courtyard formerly used for the wool processing activities to which the friars dedicated themselves.
