Walking through the streets of Ponte Lambro, starting from the railway station, you can go to Piazza Puecher, following the tracks of the about 2000 workmen of the Cotton Mill; in the past they livened up the village. In 1891, an industrial Swiss group founded the Rauchmann, born from the purchase of a local industry of hats. For 20 years the Swiss industry imposed itself on Italian market, thanks to the production of several types of textiles. After this impulse to the Cotton Mill, the Rauschmann left Ponte Lambro. The production continued with the name “Cotton Mill of Ponte Lambro”. Since 1935, the success of the industry started to explode, selling the products in East Europe, Egypt and Latin America. Thanks to an aggressive politic of prices, considering the several textiles produced, the Cotton Mill reached the top of its success and chose to invest on the territory of Ponte Lambro, realizing actions of social utility, improving the quality of the work and influencing on the prestige of the town. During this period was built a complex for the workmen and their families, giving the possibility to them to live there. There were built also outlets and dining halls, there were introduced also activities after-work, playgrounds, a library, and a local band of Ponte Lambro.
Continuing the walk from Piazza Puecher, passing through Via Guaita, Via Castelletti, Via Geret al Lambro and Via Piave, you can immerse yourself into the streets in the shades of the houses of the workmen, where they lived with their families and spent time with the services offered by the firm.
Along the route you can also admire Villa Guaita, till some years ago it was seat of a retirement home. The Villa, dated back to 1700, is spread on two floors of more 1600mq and it is immersed in a wide park rich of old plants, recently renovated and opened to the public. In the park there are a tennis court, bocce court and the old aviary of Villa Guaita.
After the discover how the Cotton Mill has contributed to the development of the town nowadays, you can enjoy the park od Villa Guaita and the typical smell of the cortex and – why not? – eat a good ice cream!
www.villaguaita.com

In the winter nights, in front of a warm fire, with a wine glass and a handful chestnuts, it was told a story about a great man, who lived in medieval time in the territory of Ponte Lambro. Maybe the horrors of the time, the call of God, or maybe to expiate a sin, leaded Battista – the name of the man – to isolate himself from the world, to meditate and pray. So, taken the habit, he built his refuge not far from Letia, a group of buildings that know is called Lezza. In contract with that dark time, with its political and religious battles, started to rise the figure of San Bernardo of Chiaravalle. Thanks to his opera of preaching, San Bernardo gave new life to the medieval European spirituality, bringing lots of men to take the habit and repopulate abbeys or isolate themselves in refuges.
For contributing to the raising of the faith, the humble hermit chose to left the isolation to found a modest oratory in Letia, that had the name of San Bernardo. In few time other monks came together Battista, they get the spiritual legacy after his death and then continued to help people of the territory, teaching them new technics of cultivation, building banks and selling products.
Today, there are not traces of Battista’s oratory. However, it is the origin of the current Convento di San Bernardo, that hosts the most ancient church of Ponte Lambro. Around the church, characterized by a unique nave ended with a rectangular apsis, with a small chapel in the corners, there are the buildings those were part of the convent. The church and the convent have endured several restorations during the time, making the complex a mix of styles: from the rococo face to late-mannerist apsis, from the late-Renaissance ceiling till Megistretti’s operas. The church is rich of frescos and paints, as the Cena of Emmaus and the Madonna, conserved in the sacristy. The niche with Cristo crocefisso tra due santi monaci is one of the few traces of the original church.