FAI Autumn Days in Carpiano
Saturday 12nd and Sunday 13rd October 2024 will see the thirteenth edition of the FAI Autumn Days, one of the most significant and popular events dedicated to Italy’s cultural heritage and landscape, organised by the FAI. From the north to the south of Italy, 700 extraordinary, often little-known and little-valued places, as well as unusual and curious spaces, some of which are generally inaccessible, will open their doors to the public in 360 cities (the list of open places and how to participate are online on the FAI website). Each visit will offer the opportunity to support FAI’s mission through a donation.
Moyersoen Collection in Carpiano
In the event of particular crowds, entry to the site may not be guaranteed.
Carpiano is a small town on the southern border of the Milan Metropolitan City within the Parco Agricolo Sud Milano. The territory, made up of fertile countryside cultivated mainly with rice, wheat and maize, thanks to the work of monks in the Middle Ages, gave life to the cultivation technique of the ‘marcite’, allowing one of the richest agricultural developments in all of Europe. The numerous farmsteads in Carpiano bear witness to this agricultural heritage, the main economic and employment activity.
All the farmsteads in Carpiano have compelling stories to tell. One of them, the Cascina Longora, a traditional 19th-century farmhouse, houses the Private Collection of the history and role of the Military Cavalry from 1939 to 1945. It is the work of Baron Albert Moyersoen, who collected the sometimes unique exhibits and documents in the collection throughout his life, alongside his farm and riding stables. A cavalry soldier during the Second World War, and later an écuyer, a holy monster of horsemanship, he passed away at the age of 95. A passionate, rigorous, multifaceted man: one of Italy’s greatest horse men.
The Private Collection is located inside the Cascina Longora, and makes use of a pavilion, used as a stable, adapted to allow an orderly and attentive tour of the equine trappings, their characteristics, (specific to the different nationalities), the tools for caring for them and documents of the time.
What will you discover during the FAI days?
A unique collection of the role played by the Cavalry of all belligerents who fielded some 10 million horses in the Second World War. An impressive exhibition created by the passion of Baron Albert Moyersoen, collected over 40 years of meticulous research. The tour will take visitors to a wing of the farmhouse to view 13 reproductions of horses harnessed in the harnesses of the various cavalry divisions and 2 life-size reproductions of fibreglass mules together with harnesses, saddles, equipment, historically valuable photographs and extremely rare books on horses. Albert Moyersoen trained at the Haras du Pin in France, was an écuyer of the Haute Ecole, a great driver and coach of carriages in international events. Various personalities and institutions turned to him to learn how to drive and care for horses. He taught riding to Lucio Battisti and Mogol for the famous Milan-Rome trip in 1970.
FAI Milan South East Group
Usually closed place, private property
Visits by
Moyersoen Family – Volunteers FAI Group Milan South East
Useful info
Timetable
Saturday 12nd October 2024: 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. / 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. (last admission 5 p.m.)
Note: Last visit in the morning at 12 p.m.
Sunday 13rd October 2024: 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. / 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. (last admission 5 p.m.)
Note: Last visit in the morning at 12 p.m.
Notes for the visit
Visiting shifts every 30 minutes for groups of 15 visitors. Parking is available in a large area next to Cascina Longora.
Church of San Martino Vescovo in Carpiano
In 1396, Galeazzo Visconti definitively donated the fief of Carpiano to the Carthusian monks he called to build the monastery and church of Torre del Mangano (later to become Certosa di Pavia), where he wanted to be buried. With the arrival of the Carthusian monks, who remained there for three centuries, the village of Carpiano changed its face, becoming a grangia – castle, i.e. a farm owned by the Carthusian monastery of Pavia, which housed a monastic house in the Carpiano area. In the 12th-14th centuries, the Church of San Martino Vescovo was built, which took on its current appearance in the 15th century, when it was almost entirely rebuilt.
The church of S. Martino Vescovo is in the Lombard-Gothic style (14th century). The gabled façade is made of terracotta, with interrupted salients, punctuated by pilasters and decorated with pinnacles and a hanging arch cornice. The interior has a Latin cross plan and is divided into three naves by cruciform terracotta pillars. The side naves are covered by ribbed cross vaults with an archiac profile, while the nave originally had a wooden roof with an exposed roof, later replaced by the current barrel vault. All three naves were originally covered with frescoes, now partly covered by later repainting; some, better preserved, can be seen at the entrance to the sacristy and in the right aisle. The high altar was made by Maestri Campionesi for the Certosa di Pavia and dates back to the end of the 14th century. A curious story is linked to the altar: it seems that the Pope of the time had forced the monks to remove the altar because the story of the Madonna depicted on the front was taken from an apocryphal Gospel of St. Matthew.
The visit will start from the outside of the church, analysing the architectural elements, in particular the elegant square-plan pronaos supported by 4 twisted columns in Candoglia marble from the Certosa di Pavia. Inside we will discover the first altar from the Certosa di Pavia, the work of the Maestri Campionesi in 1393, transferred to Carpiano between 1520 and 1550 because it depicts 8 bas-relief scenes from the life of Mary taken from the apocryphal gospels, from the story of Joachim and Anne to the Coronation of the Virgin. The church contains a wooden choir, frescoes attributed to Bernardino Luini and Bergognone and works by the contemporary sculptor Harry Rosenthal. The visit continues with a walk to the Carthusian grange, admiring from the outside the loggia at the south-west tower and the Millstone of the Torchio (17th century).
FAI Milan South East Group
Usually closed place, private property
Visits by
Volunteers FAI Group Milan South East
Piazza Colonna, 1, CARPIANO, MI
Timetable
Saturday 12nd October 2024: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. (last admission 4 p.m.)
Notes: Visiting shifts every 30 minutes, groups of maximum 15 people.
Sunday 13rd October 2024: 2 p.m. – 5 p.m. (last admission 4 p.m.)
Notes: Closed Sunday morning for celebration of Holy Masses. Visiting shifts every 30 minutes, groups of maximum 15 people.
Notes for the visit
Participants will meet in the churchyard of St Martin the Bishop.
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