Gallarate (Italian: [ɡallaˈraːte]; Lombard: Galaraa) is a city and comune of Alto Milanese of Lombardy and of Milan metropolitan area, northern Italy, in the Province of Varese.

After the Carolingian conquest of northern-central Italy, a castle was erected upon the remains of the original Roman fortifications located beside the still-existing Basilica of Santa Maria.

During these years, Gallarate saw a period of prosperity and economic growth that would last for the rest of Visconti control, until the beginning of French rule two centuries later (1498).

Documents in the National Archives refer to Gallarate as an important centre of commercial exchange between both Italian and foreign markets, particularly for cotton, drapes, flax and textiles.

In between this political instability, Gallarate became a private fief of some of the competing noble Italian families such as the Bentivoglio, Pallavicino, Caracciolo, Altemps, Visconti, and Castelbarco.

Many of the old Liberty style buildings, where thousands of Gallaratesi worked during the past century and a half, have been turned into new modern multi-level shopping centres and plazas.