North of Via Achille Piazzi, named after a young partisan shot in 1944, runs a stretch of solid stone wall known to locals as the Barbacani (barbican). The term refers to a medieval defensive structure associated with a town’s fortifications. However, despite numerous investigations Angera’s town wall has never been found; a possible external ditch was brought to light in the 1980s during work in Via Cadorna.
Today the Barbacani encloses the property of Michele De Lucchi, an internationally famous architect and designer. His study, which contains a collection of his works, is only occasionally open to the public.
This stretch of wall ends at a crossroads in the vicinity of an eighteenth century villa that was the home of Cesare Merzagora, President of the Senate of the Republic of Italy 1953 – 1967 and President of Italy for the latter half of 1964.