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Main article: History of Legnano
Prehistory and Roman times[edit]
Findings linked to the Culture of Golasecca recent (V sec. BC) found in 1937 in Legnano and preserved at the Museo civico Guido Sutermeister.
The most ancient evidence of settlement in Legnano dates to the Remedello culture (21st–19th centuries BC). Later it was a Celtic center, conquered by the Romans in the 1st century BC.
Since ancient times the inhabitants of Legnano lived on the edge of the river Olona Valley. These land, higher than the river, were not flooded by the regular floods of the waterway. As a result, the most important archaeological finds, from prehistory to Roman rule, were discovered along the edges of the Olona valley; these finds mainly refer to inhumations.
The oldest furnishings found in Legnano are fragments of a vase that can be traced back to Remedello's culture. They were born between 1926 and 1928 near the border between Castellanza and Legnano, dating from between 34th century BC and 22nd century BC. Bronzes dating back to the 4th century BC and 1st century BC (linked to La Tène culture) have been found from an archaeological site near the strada statale del Sempione.
The ancient vicus of Legnanum, which belonged to the regio XI Transpadana, one of Italy's Augustean regions, was connected to the surrounding areas through important communication routes, the most important of which was a Roman road built in the 1st century AD, the Via Severiana Augusta, which skirted the Olona River at the modern strada statale del Sempione, which connected ancient Mediolanum (the modern Milano) to Lake Maggiore.
The most important Roman-era finds were discovered in 1925 in a necropolis in the east of the city. The necropolis contained coins, plates, cups, glasses, balsamari, mirrors, and iron utensils. Other tombs dating back to the same period were found in 1985 near the old town, while other archaeological excavations revealed late Roman objects. This kit consisted of pebbles, knives, razors and buckles. All these objects are on display in the Museo civico Guido Sutermeister.
Middle Ages[edit]
A map of Legnano from 1850: it can still see the two inhabitants of Legnano (on the left) and Legnanello (on the left) at the time still distinct and divided by the Olona and the Olonella. The two towns then settled into a single urban conglomerate with the construction expansion of the 20th century.
The first document received on the history of Legnano concerns the quartier of Legnanello. This act, which refers to a trade in land located in the small neighbour, is dated 23 October 789. Within this written testimony can be read:
[...] curtem proprietatis nostre in Leunianello [...]— Longobard diplomatic code, LIV number
This written testimony in English means "[...] with our properties in Legnanello [...]". It seems that Legnanello existed as early as 687, when the religious celebration of the Candlemas (the Candelora) began, introduced by Pope Sergius I, who officiated every 2 February.
The first mention of the main settlement of Legnano is related to the capture of Arialdo, head of the pataria, which took place inside the castle of the Cotta in Legnano, that was built in 10th century and demolished in 13th/14th century (this fortification was one of military outpost of Lombard League during the Battle of Legnano, fought on 29 May 1176).
The defense of the Carroccio during the Battle of Legnano by Amos Cassioli (1860)
On the Historia Mediolanensis written by Landulf Junior in the 11th century which deals with the history of Milan in the Middle Ages, it can in fact be read that Arialdo was captured:
[...] iuxta locum Legnani [...]— Historia Mediolanensis
This testimony in English means "[...] near Legnano [...]". Leone da Perego, Bishop of Milan from 1241 to 1257, also stayed in Legnano. He lived in the palace of the same name, Palazzo Leone da Perego, where he died on 14 October 1257. At first he was buried in the Church of Sant'Ambrogio, but then the body disappeared. In 1258, the community of Legnano approved its first statutes, a deliberation that formally gave birth to the municipality of modern Legnano.
A video showing the stages of the Battle of Legnano, highlighting the movements of the troops
In April 1273, the Visconti Castle of Legnano hosted the royals Edward I of England and Eleanor of Castile on their way back from their trip to the Middle East. Bonvesin da la Riva, the greatest poet and writer of Lombardy in the 13th century and one of the exponent more prominent of the didactic poetic movement of northern Italy, lived in the city until 1288. The literary man described Legnano with these verses:
[...] Among all the cities of Lombardy is lauded as the rose or lily among the flowers, such as cedar in Lebanon, as the lion among the quadrupeds, like the eagle among the birds, so as to appear as the sun among the celestial bodies, for the fertility of the soil and the availability of the necessities fundamental for the men [...]— Bonvesin de la Riva
In the Middle Ages, the city was the location of the Battle of Legnano in which Emperor Frederick I was defeated by the Lombard League (1176). Because of the historic victory of the Lombard League over Frederick Barbarossa, it is the only town other than Rome named in the Italian national anthem ("[...] Dall'Alpi a Sicilia dovunque è Legnano [...]", en. "From the Alps to Sicily, Legnano is everywhere"). Every year the people of Legnano commemorate the battle with Palio di Legnano. In the institutional sphere, on 29 May, the date of the battle of Legnano, it was chosen as the regional holiday of Lombardy.
Although the presence of the enemy in the surroundings was already known to both sides, they met suddenly without having time to plan any strategy. The Battle of Legnano was crucial in the long war waged by the Holy Roman German Empire to try to assert its power over the municipalities of northern Italy, who decided to put aside each other's rivalries by allied themselves in a military-led union symbolically by Pope Alexander III, the Lombard League, whose symbol was the Carroccio.
The battle ended the fifth and final descent into Italy of Emperor Federico Barbarossa, who after the defeat tried to resolve the Italian question by attempting the diplomatic approach. This resulted a few years later in the peace of Constance (25 June 1183), with which the Emperor recognized the Lombard League by granting administrative, political and judicial concessions to the municipalities and officially ending his attempt to hegemonize Northern Italy.
From 13th century to 15th century[edit]
The fifteenth-century Torre Colombera.
Already in the Middle Ages Legnano was not considered a village, but a borgo, a denomination reserved in Italy for comuni with a market and a fortification. These infrastructures generally stood in the most populous centers and also served the neighboring centers.
During the Renaissance, Legnano was dominated by several noble families. The main ones were the Lampugnani, Vismara, Visconti, Crivelli, Maino and Caimi. During the 15th century Legnano was enriched with many noble dwellings, which built to the Visconti Castle of Legnano, that replaced in the role of fortification of the borgo the already mentioned castle of the Cotta, and the Palazzo Leone da Perego, that was built by the eponymous archbishop.
The only civil built in the 15th century that has not been demolished is Torre Colombera, which is now located between corso Garibaldi and via Del Gigante, near the Church of San Domenico, embedded in a building over the street.
In 1549 the population, decimated by the plague epidemics of 1529 and of 1540, was 576 inhabitants, spread to 184 families. Already in these centuries the agriculture was very diverse. The main crops were cereals (millet and wheat), grapevine and mulberry, which is the basis of the breeding of silkworms. In addition to cereal farming, the wood economy was also based on livestock farming and crafts.
The construction of the convents and most of the churches of Legnano, on the other hand, dates back to the Counter-Reformation: the noble families of the time competed to win the favor of the Milanese archbishops by tying their name to works of charity or to works for the benefit of the community.
From 16th century to 19th century[edit]
The demolished Mulino Arcivescovile in Legnano in 1849.
The hallmark of the 18th and 19th centuries was the construction of many watermills along the Olona. In the period of maximum expansion of the activity of watermills, in Legnano, seventeen mills could be counted, exploiting the driving force of the Olona river. The last seven in Legnano were demolished between the 19th and 20th centuries to be replaced by more modern plants, which exploited the driving force of the Olona river more efficiently.
The low incomes that were provided by the agricultural and livestock economy of these centuries stimulated the peasants to integrate the use in the fields with other jobs, in which women also participated during the day. In the evening, the farmers became spinners and weavers of silk, wool and cotton, as well as dyers.
Corso Garibaldi to Piazza San Magno in Legnano. On the extreme left, the balcony from which Giuseppe Garibaldi spoke to the legnanesi urging them to erect a monument to remember the Battle of Legnano, which was later built.
During the Napoleonic era, a work was enhanced that would be decisive, together with the artisanal activities above, for the birth of industries. The government improved the strada statale del Sempione road that connected Milan with Paris on the Rho – Legnano – Gallarate – Arona – Domodossola – Brig crossing the Alps. Nowadays in Legnano the strada statale del Sempione still exists. This important communication route also greatly contributed to the strategic importance of Legnano, the second mail station from Milan.
In the 19th century the municipal administration of Legnano was governed by large landowners and members of the wealthiest bourgeoisie. She was often forced to intervene to dictate rules on agriculture, grazing and land protection, and to resolve heated disputes between farmers and millers, especially during lean Olona river periods.
On 16 June 1862, from a balcony of a building no longer existing (there was later built the headquarters of the Banca di Legnano), Giuseppe Garibaldi urged the legnanesi to build a monument in memory of the famous battle of 29 May 1176. The municipality of Legnano, stimulated by the speech of Garibaldi, erected a statue in honor of the battle, initially created by the sculptor Egidio Pozzi and then replaced in 1900 by the nowadays Monument to the Warrior of Legnano, which is the work of Enrico Butti and that it is often mistakenly associated with the legendary Lombard League leader Alberto da Giussano.
In 1882 the city was invaded by a disastrous flood of the Olona: for the courageous and philanthropic actions of its inhabitants, as can be read in the motivation of the honor, Legnano was awarded the Gold Medal of Civil Valor.
Gold Medal for Civil Valor.
Industrialisation[edit]
Cotonificio Dell'Acqua in Legnano.
The first documented manufacturing activities date back to the 12th century and are linked to the processing of wool in convents, while the first proto-industrial activities, in the modern sense of the term, arose around 1830, with the opening of the nucleus of Cotonificio Cantoni. The process of industrialization in Legnano lasted from 1820 to 1880. The secular traditions of craftsmanship and home crafting, practiced to integrate work in the fields, played a decisive role in the birth of the industry in Legnano.
The spinning soured in the first decades of the 19th century then turned into real industries. Some of them grew steadily to become among the main cotton mills in Lombardy. Legnano was ideal for opening up textile industries thanks to the presence of important communication routes and that of the Olona River, which provided the energy necessary to move the hydraulic wheels before the installation of steam engines. By the second half of the 19th century, the timber companies achieved a wider production, thanks in part to the technological improvement that led some industries to have an importance that transcended national borders.
Among the Legnano's industries, the main, for organization and technology, was the Cotonificio Cantoni, according to an 1876 document kept in the archive of the municipality of Legnano. Among the largest companies operating in Legnano between the 19th and 20th centuries were, in addition to those already mentioned, the Cotonificio Bernocchi, Cotonificio Dell'Acqua, De Angeli-Frua, the Manifattura di Legnano, the mechanical companies Franco Tosi Meccanica, the Mario Pensotti and Andrea Pensotti, the FIAL, who mainly produced cars, and the cycling company Legnano. Some of these industrialists also made contributions to the construction of the hospital and high schools.
The Milan-Gallarate tramway in Legnano
Between 1885 and 1915, the original agricultural economy of Legnano finally became an industrial system. However, industrial development led to an agricultural crisis in the area, as many farmers abandoned their activities in the fields to work in the factories of Legnano. At the turn of the two centuries there was therefore a strong industrial and commercial development. For this expansion, the infrastructure for the transport of people and goods was very important. Next to the strada statale del Sempione was built the railway station of Legnano along the Domodossola–Milan railway line and, along the latter, the Milan-Gallarate tramway, which connected Legnano to Milan. The Milan-Gallarate tramway was later abolished in the second half of the 20th century.
During the industrialisation of Legnano there was a large use of child labor. In the early 1980s, the first strikes were organized in the industry, while the first working-class societies were born.
20th century[edit]
World War I[edit]
Palazzo Malinverni, Legnano town hall. It was built from 1908 to 1909 in the medieval style.
In 1915, when Italy entered into World War I, Legnano had a population of 28,757. Between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, there was a strong population increase due to immigration, driven by the development of industry, which constituted a lure of workers and service workers. During the war, the industries of Legnano also converted their plants for the production of war supplies.
Franco Tosi Meccanica, in particular, helped equip the Royal Italian Army's artillery units. Two natural disasters, in 1917, worsened the situation caused by the war: the epidemic of Spanish flu, which mowed down the population, and a devastating flood of the Olona River, which broke the embankments and invaded the town.
Between the two world wars[edit]
View of one of the building of the former sanatorio Regina Elena.
At the end of the World War I, in 1918, Legnano was also embroiled in deep social tensions that led, at the national level, into the Biennio Rosso period first and then fascism. The first groups inspired by the political movement founded by Benito Mussolini were formed in 1920.
In the early post-war years, the timber industry resumed its strong growth which had characterized it until before the outbreak of the conflict; this development took place despite the transformation of the Italian economy from liberal to corporate. In addition to the growth of the textile and mechanical industries, in 1927 the company Emilio Bozzi took over the bicycle construction business from Franco Tosi Meccanica, relaunching the brand Legnano.
Thermal power station Regina Margherita, exposed to the Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci in Milan. It was built by Franco Tosi Meccanica in 1895.
The sanatorio Regina Elena is linked to two visits by members of the royal family: on 19 June 1924 by Margherita of Savoy on the occasion of the inauguration of the structure and on 27 April 1925 by King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, who visited the complex.
According to a 1927 census, the population of Legnano was about 30,000, with 677 industrial and artisanal establishments. The workforce consisted of 9,926 textile plant employees, 4,056 mechanical factory workers, 1,762 employees in commerce, credit, insurance and other services, and 287 workers in transportation and communications.
The constant economic growth and strong population growth (Legnano passed, from 1881 to 1924, from 8,098 to 29,117 inhabitants) led to the elevation of the municipality to the city, which was conferred by royal decree on 15 August 1924 by king Victor Emmanuel III of Savoy.
Titolo di Città (en. "title of city").
During fascism, many public works were conceived, designed and performed. The most important one that touched Legnano was the first section of the Autostrada dei Laghi, connecting to the time Milan with Gallarate. It was inaugurated on 20 September 1923 in the presence of king Victor Emmanuel III.
It was the first motorway built in the world, and was designed by the engineer Piero Puricelli. In May 1935, the first edition of the Palio di Legnano was organized to commemorate the victory of the municipalities of the Lombard League against Frederick Barbarossa in the Battle of Legnano of 29 May 1176.
World War II[edit]
The Reggimento "Savoia Cavalleria" as the Company of Death for the Palio di Legnano 1939.
In 1940 Italy entered the World War II alongside Nazi Germany, and the events of the war were also reflected in Legnano. Many soldiers died on the battlefield, and the effects of deprivation became more acute as the months and years passed. The industries of Legnano were converted for military orders. On the night of 13–14 August 1943, planes dropped bombs on the town, resulting in a dozen deaths.
The decisive turning point of the war was the armistice of 8 September 1943 between Italy and the Allies. The next day, German armoured cars began menacing lytry through the streets of Legnano. The industry of Legnano, now controlled by the Nazis, began supplying the Third Reich with the artifacts needed to continue the war.
In October 1943, the first armed teams made up of workers, students and soldiers were formed in Legnano, and in neighbouring countries after 8 September. The partisan brigades "Carroccio" were formed, Catholic-inspired, "Garibaldi", of socialist-communist extraction, and some autonomous compatriots, among them the "Sicilia". The "Carroccio" and "Garibaldi" operated together with the partisan compatriots of Northern Italy under the provisions of the National Liberation Committee.
Legnano is one of the cities decorated after the war, having been awarded the Bronze Medal of Military Valor for the sacrifices of its people and for its activity in the partisan struggle during World War II.
Bronze Medal for War Valor.
From the end of World War II to 21st century[edit]
A glimpse of the legnanese plant of the Manifattura di Legnano.
After the war Legnano was hit, like the rest of Italy, by the severe economic recession following the conflict. Basic food was insufficient, public transport was limited and roads were rough. On 2 May 1945, for the first time since the fascist dictatorship, the municipal council met. The time for a return to democracy and reconstruction, after the destruction of the war, was long and tiring.
After regularized national political life, Legnano's economy returned to growth, resuming the strength of the period before the World War II. During Italy's strong economic growth during the economic boom, Legnano achieved, between 1951 and 1961, the Italian record of the highest employment index in industry compared to the total population (65.2%), second after Sesto San Giovanni.
The golden age of the Legnano industry began at the beginning of the 20th century and ended in the 1960s. The crisis progressively worsened, damaging the economy, employment and the industrial fabric. Many companies closed, especially in textiles, clothing and footwear, and many others were involved in a downsizing process, such as Franco Tosi Meccanica. The latter is the only major timber industry still active having closed its doors, in 2014, Giovanni Crespi.
Attempts were made to target the tertiary sector. In 1977 in Legnano was founded Antenna 3 Lombardia that was, that time, the most important private TV station in Italy.These alternative fields did not, however, lead to a sufficient rate of development to make up for the closure of large industrial activities. An exception to this dynamic was the foundation in Legnano, in 1985, of the fashion company Dolce & Gabbana. A phase began with the birth of small businesses. These processes continue to this day, making Legnanese a highly developed and industrialised area.
