Gaggiano is a canal town, which is not something people expect on the outskirts of Milan. The Naviglio Grande runs straight through it, a broad, slow, green waterway dug in the Middle Ages to bring water and goods from the Ticino river to the city, and along its banks stand old villas with gardens down to the water, a church, a few bars and an iron footbridge. Just under seven thousand people live here, and on a warm evening half of them seem to be walking or cycling along the towpath.
The canal is the story. It was begun in the twelfth century and was one of the first navigable canals in Europe, and for centuries it carried salt, timber, grain and stone into Milan. The marble for the Duomo came this way, floated down from quarries near Lake Maggiore, and barges marked "AUF", for "ad usum fabricae", were allowed through without paying tolls. Wealthy Milanese families built summer villas along the banks in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and you can still see many of them as you ride along the canal road towards Abbiategrasso and Robecco.
Around Gaggiano lies the Parco Agricolo Sud Milano, a huge protected belt of farmland, rice fields, irrigation ditches and old fortified farmhouses called cascine. In late spring, when the paddies are flooded, the land becomes a mirror, reflecting the sky and the poplars, with herons and egrets stalking in the water. About fifteen kilometres south-west, the Cistercian abbey of Morimondo, founded by monks from Burgundy in the twelfth century, stands in this landscape like a brick ship, plain and beautiful.
As a finish to a Dolomites trip, it is a soft landing after a long day on the motorway across the Po plain. The canal road is narrow and slow, with cyclists and pedestrians, so take it easy, and in summer evenings the mosquitoes are relentless near the water. In winter, thick fog often lies over the plain, sometimes for days, and visibility can drop to almost nothing. There is fuel, food and coffee in Gaggiano and in Trezzano sul Naviglio nearby, and the city is only a short ride east. Stop at a bar by the water, order an aperitivo and watch the canal slide by; it is a very Milanese way to end the journey.