Situated North-east of Milan, in the valley basin of Molgora, Vimercate is an important center of the province of Monza and Brianza. The name derives from the Latin "Vicus mercati" (village market), having always been an important trading center. It is mentioned for the first time in a official document of 745, the will of Rotperto in Agrate, in which the church of Santo Stefano is mentioned, being proclaimed Parish, that for centuries organized the religious life, the economic and social development of the entire Martesana area, of which, until 931, Vimercate was the administrative and judicial center. In the period between the XVII century and the XIX century it became a preferred resort for the nobility of Milan, and various "Villas of delight" were built here.
Just to name a few:
- Palazzo Trotti, (XVII-XVIII century), seat of the Town Hall of Vimercate, built by the town's feudal lord, Count Giovanni Battista Secco Borrelli, and hosts a series of frescoes in 11 rooms, showing the "Stories of Cleopatra, Semiramis, Hercules" and other mythological episodes depicted in the XVIII century;
- Villa Casanova (XIX century), the rehabilitation of one of the wings of the nearby Monastery of San Lorenzo;
- Villa Visconti Gargantini Piatti (XIX century), designed by Leopoldo Pollack in 1805;
- Villa Sottocasa, built in the late XVIII century, with a superb park;
- Villa Santa Maria Molgora (XVI-XIX century), a neo-Classical structure;
- Villa Gallarati Scotti (XVII-XIX), in the village of Oren, restored in neo-Classical style by the architect Simone Cantoni;
- Villa Borromeo, built in the XVII century and rebuilt several times in later centuries;
- The hunting lodge Borromeo, dating from the XV century, and whose interior preserves fine frescoes.
Among other civil and religious monuments, not to miss:
- The Collegiate Church of St. Stephen's, located in the old town center. It was built in two phases between the X and XI centuries on the remains of an older building. The gable of the façade proposes classical forms and features a group of statues depicting the Virgin and Child between St. Stephen and Damian of the XIV century. Inside it preserves frescoes by painter Lattanzio Gambara of Brescia;
- The Shrine of the Blessed Virgin, built in the XVII century, under the supervision of the greatest architects of the period Milanese (Fabio Mangone and Francesco Maria Richino). Decorated with stucco and frescoes, it features various chapels with late-battlement elements.
- The Bridge of San Rocco, built in two phases in the Middle Ages, thanks to the refurbishment of a preexisting Roman bridge on the Molgora;
- The XVI century Monastery of San Lorenzo, situated not far from the Collegiate Church of San Lorenzo, is a remarkable U-plan building, consisting of a cloister and a porch. It became a private property and was used in the XIX century as an industrial building with a nearby residential area.
- the XIV century Convento di San Francesco, owned by the family Banfi;
- A medieval tower house of the XV century in Via Crispi
- The Convent of St. Francis, in the village of Oren, was initially built in the XIII century and later enlarged and rebuilt with a perfect square plant. Here the Franciscans returned in 1769, after their exile from the nearby convent of Vimercate;
- The Church of St. Michael, in the Parish of Oren, which dates back to the XVI century and later enlarged.