During the seventeenth century, the property of Capiate became the subject of legal cases which lasted for about fifty years.

Ottavio Mornico married Violante, Francesco Spini’s daughter. Francesco had promised a considerable dowry but, after several age from the marriage, it had not been paid yet. So the argument began.

The dispute lasted more or less from 1625 to 1670, and involved even the heirs of the former claimants and many other persons. At a certain point also the Royal Treasury claimed the payment of duties that the Spini had no paid. Eventually, the property passed to the Mornico family, wealthy landowners and officials of the Spanish government of the Duchy of Milan. They owned, among other properties, the villa Monastero in Varenna, at that time already famous for its architectural and natural beauties.

The Mornico kept the property for nearly three centuries, until 1901. They developed the agricultural cultivations in order to get plentiful harvests. The castle became an efficient farmhouse with a manor called "Villa la Torre".

In the eighteenth century, the brothers Giovanbattista and Lelio Mornico, Milanese priests, restored the residual part of the ancient Basilica of St. Nazaro, realizing the St. Joseph church, architecturally different in comparison with both the former and the current one.