History of Legnano

Among the items found, and now displayed at the Sutermeister Civic Museum, are portions of walls, terracotta piping, tiles, and bricks, necropoli, and household ceramic, glass, and metal objects, and currency.

Within it one can read:[...] with our properties in Legnanello [...] (Latin: [...] curtem proprietatis nostre in Leunianello [...])It seems that the ward already existed in 687, when the religious celebration of Candlemas began, which was introduced by Pope Sergius I and was officiated every February 2.

[42][43] It is from the period of Frankish rule that the town centers flourished again after the barbarian invasions;[42][43] Legnano also followed this trend, experiencing a phase of economic growth also thanks to the resumption of trade, which once again took advantage of the ancient Roman road bordering the Olona.

The road passing through the main settlement, which also followed the course of the Olona and corresponds to modern-day Corso Magenta and Corso Garibaldi, crossed the urban agglomeration from north to south; this road came from the Olona valley and connected Castellanza, Legnano, the modern Legnanello district Costa di San Giorgio and Milan; two gates were built at the entrance and exit from Legnano, one of which, known as the "Porta di Sotto," was demolished in 1818 because it made it difficult for farmers' wagons to circulate.

[60][61] It was located south of the town, along the modern Corso Magenta, which at that time was called Via Porta di Sotto,[62] just ahead of the entrance to Palazzo Leone da Perego and near the old Cotta Castle.

The latter overcame their rivalries by uniting in the Lombard League, i.e., a military alliance chaired by Pope Alexander III, which defeated the Holy Roman Emperor's army near Legnano (May 29, 1176) ending Barbarossa's hegemonic dreams in northern Italy.

[citation needed] Because of this strategic function, Legnano, starting in the 11th century, began to bind itself more and more with Milan even from an economic and military point of view, although it formally belonged to Seprio.

[83] The Della Torre family, before being defeated and disappearing from the political scene, purchased a convent in Legnano that stood south of the town on an island in the Olona River (after causing the Augustinian friars who lived there to flee), and fortified it by converting it into a military structure.

[89] Born in Milan, he lived at the convent of Santa Caterina in the Contrada Sant'Erasmo, where he wrote one of his best-known works, De quinquaginta curialitatibus ad mensam, a manual of good table manners.

[92] Starting in the 15th century, in addition to the Lampugnani, Legnano began to be dominated by other noble families: the main ones were the Oldrendi (or Legnani), the Bossi, the Vismara, the Visconti, the Crivelli, the Maino and the Caimi.

[100] In the 16th century, in spite of the turmoil that led to the construction of the basilica, the village experienced a phase of decline, as it began to untie itself from Milan and gradually lost its strategic function; in this way, it turned from an important military outpost into a simple agricultural center.

[114] On September 17, 1649, the people of Legnano, as a result of natural disasters that compromised the local economy and because of the Spanish government's plan to enfeoff the lands of the Duchy of Milan, were forced to pay a large sum of money to keep their properties.

[101] This downgrading put an end to the golden age of Legnano's aristocratic palaces built in the 15th century: these noble villas repeatedly changed ownership, eventually becoming simple residences of peasants, who did not care to preserve the valuable environments thus causing the decay of the buildings.

They were subjected to metayage, or "colonia lombarda," under the supervision of the patriarch (in Legnanese ragiò, known in Milanese dialect by the term regiù),[127] and worked cultivated land that stretched from the center of the village to the farmhouses on the outskirts.

[129] After a provision of Emperor Joseph II issued in 1786 forbidding the use of mass graves, the Legnanese community was obliged to provide itself with a new cemetery located outside the town center to replace the "big pit" of medieval origin.

[139] At that time, the municipal administration of Legnano, which was ruled by the large landowners and wealthier bourgeoisie, was often forced to intervene to draft regulations on agriculture, pastures and land management, as well as to settle heated disputes between farmers and millers, especially during lean periods on the Olona River.

[142] The first intervention of the Legnanese municipal administration with regard to public education[143] is from the beginning of the 19th century, when the city government entrusted two teachers with the management of two classes of schoolchildren, one for boys and one for girls.

[150] What had a decisive weight in the genesis of this process was the tradition of handicrafts and domestic manufacturing that had been present in the productive fabric of Legnano for a few centuries;[139][150][151] these activities were practiced to supplement work in the fields.

[129] Conversely, the first proto-industrial businesses in the modern sense of the term were two cotton spinning mills that were founded in 1821 by the Swiss Carlo Martin and in 1823 by his compatriots Enrico and Giovanni Schoc and Francesco Dapples.

[153] The process of industrialization that led to the gradual transformation of the economy of the Alto Milanese was accelerated by two natural disasters that threw local agriculture into crisis: cryptogamia, a disease that affected the grapevine, and nosemosis, an epidemic that damaged silkworm cocoons.

[174] In 1915, on the eve of Italy's entry into World War I, Legnano reached 28,757 inhabitants: from the beginning of the 20th century the city underwent a strong demographic increase that was due to immigration and was brought about by the great development of industry.

[177] Two natural disasters further worsened the situation caused by the war: a devastating flood of the Olona River, which broke its banks and invaded the town (1917), and the Spanish flu epidemic, which mowed down the population starting in early 1918.

[179] Also from this period is the strong urban expansion and the radical transformation of the city center, which involved, among other things, the demolition of some important historical buildings: the hospice of Sant'Erasmo (which was later rebuilt) and two ancient bridges over the Olona River were also demolished.

In the postwar years a number of workers' houses were built by the owners of the large industrial complexes in Legnano, work that continued even after World War II ended.

[181] From the manufacturing point of view, the interwar period was characterized by the birth and growth of medium-small companies, mostly textile and mechanical, which flanked the large industries already present for decades in the economic fabric of Legnano.

Benito Mussolini visited Legnano again on October 4, 1934: he spoke in Piazza San Magno from a stage placed on top of a Franco Tosi turbine in front of a few thousand people.

On June 19, 1923, the sanatorium named after Queen Elena was inaugurated on Via Colli di Sant'Erasmo to combat tuberculosis; the structure, which is in Art Nouveau style and was not demolished when the sanitary emergency ended, later became the site of a socio-educational center for the disabled and welfare institutions.

Some partisans who were part of the "Garibaldi" brigade detonated, on one of the windows, a device that left five dead and twenty-five wounded: the attack caused a reaction from the fascists, who carried out several arrests and beatings.

[194] The body of Benito Mussolini, who was executed on April 28, 1945, passed through the outskirts of Legnano[179] on its way to a convent of Capuchin friars in neighboring Cerro Maggiore, to whom it was momentarily handed over before being returned to his wife, Rachele Guidi.

[210] At the same time, a phase of the birth of small companies began, which allowed Legnano to remain included in a highly advanced productive context, still placing it in the 21st century among the most developed and industrialized areas in Italy.