More secluded than Chiaravalle - nonetheless possibly crowded on summer weekends - is another Cistercian abbey some 30 km south-west of Milan, in a pleasant ambience not far from the Ticino river.

Morimondo (to be pronounced moh-ree mon-doh) was established around 1135 by monks coming from Morimond, France, and in the following centuries it became very rich, which is why its church, duly gothic, is so large and imposing.

The interior of the church and the cloisters were restored in view of the Roman Catholic jubilee in the year 2000, and more restoration works were decided in November 2009.

  West of Milan.
Some 30 km from the city.
Take road 494 Vigevanese to Abbiategrasso (km 24), then road 526 to Morimondo.