History of San Giorgio su Legnano
[1] The oldest archaeological evidence found in the territory of San Giorgio su Legnano, on the other hand, consists of Roman necropolises, the dating of which corresponds to the Imperial Age.
The reference to the saint in the name of the municipality[1] derives from a small church dedicated to St. George attached to a convent of Augustinian friars found in the Legnano countryside, the existence of which is attested in a manuscript from 1261.
The first reference to "San Giorgio" in the name of the town appears on documents from the early 15th century, which indicate the community as locus Sancti Georgi Plebis Parabiaghi Duc.
Mlni ("locality of San Giorgio, of the parish of Parabiago, Duchy of Milan"), while on maps from the Borromeo era (16th century) the settlement is mentioned as Cascina Sancti Georgi Plebis Parabiaghi Duc.
[16] A widespread folk etymology of the word "Sotera," which has been circulating among the inhabitants of the area, would have it that this term was an allusion to the Roman necropolis ("underground," in the Legnanese dialect sota tèra).
and the 1st century A.D., which yielded various archaeological materials including amphorae, kitchenware, balsam jars, oil lamps, knives, scrapers, nails, fusaroles, and a coin, which made its dating possible.
[28] In the Middle Ages, the community of Sotena, like nearby Legnano, was on the border between the Contadi of Seprio (whose capital was Castelseprio) and Burgaria (probably under the hegemony of Parabiago), two counties dependent on the March of Lombardy, which was a territorial subdivision stemming from the Lombards and the Franks.
Since this church was demolished in the rebuilding of a new one in 1769 two large bricks were found in the foundations on which Count Giorgio Giulini wrote the following inscription: "MCCCLXXXXIII (1393) Die XXVI maii Fond.e prima Hae Ecclesia Hedificata per Comunem Istum Sotene ad Honorem dei Santi Georgii Quam Segrata Fuit per Dominum Archiepiscopun".
In the register of churches in Goffredo da Bussero's Liber Notitiae Sanctorum Mediolani, which describes the religious context of the Milanese area in the late 13th and early 14th centuries, San Giorgio is not yet present.
[33] This monastery possessed a lot of arable land, owned by the Della Torre family, which extended beyond Legnano to Canegrate, San Vittore Olona, Villa Cortese and Dairago.
[32][34] When the canons left, a small building remained at the monastery, a tower (probably a watchtower), whose function was to control a road bordering the Olona River, which was strategic because it was an important communication route between Milan and northwestern Lombardy.
"[39] This would suggest that the Carroccio was placed on the edge of a steep slope, so that the imperial cavalry, whose arrival was planned along the course of the Olona, would have been forced to assault the center of the Lombard League's army by climbing up the depression.
[43] In April 1273, Napoleone and Francesco della Torre hosted the English royals Edward I and Eleanor of Castile in Milan on their return home from a trip to the Middle East.
"[44] The document subsequent to the brick found at the Church of the Crucifix that refers to the community of San Giorgio dates back to the 15th century and indicates the settlement as locus Sancti Georgi Plebis Parabiaghi Duc.
Mlni ("locality of San Giorgio, of the parish of Parabiago, Duchy of Milan"), while on maps from the Borromeo era (16th century) the settlement is mentioned as Cascina Sancti Georgi Plebis Parabiaghi Duc.
[46] This can be interpreted by considering that many economically weaker owners, as a result of high taxation and limited income from land, were forced to cede their properties to financially stronger parties.
"[51] Also from this century are the most important decorations of another noble villa in San Giorgio, Palazzo Lucini Arborio Mella, with frescoes painted by Biagio Bellotti in 1750 on the vault of the main hall.
Because of this, the farmers of San Giorgio suffered a worsening of their situation, as household incomes were subject to fluctuations in production caused, for example, by weather conditions or mismanagement of agricultural activities.
[57] Instead, as revealed by a written record from 1891, proto-industrial activities included a branch of the Kramer & C. silk factory in Legnano, which employed 142 citizens of San Giorgio,[62] and an artisanal business for the production of liquor.
The process of industrialization that led to the gradual transformation of the economy of San Giorgio was accelerated by two natural disasters that threw local agriculture into crisis: cryptogamia, a disease that affected the grapevine, and pébrine, an epidemic that damaged silkworm cocoons.
As a result of these epidemics, wine cultivation in San Giorgio su Legnano disappeared for good, and farmers concentrated their efforts on grain production and silkworm breeding.
This event gave further impetus to the industrialization of the Altomilanese, as it also undermined the most important branch of agriculture in the area after the disappearance of vineyards and the crisis of silkworm breeding, the cultivation of cereals.
Even after the cessation of hostilities and the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, the new administrative structure did not change, and San Giorgio remained part of the same territorial organizations until the 1920s, when the mandimenti and circondari were abolished.
[72] On October 11, 1902, the city council gave the green light to the placement of an electric line between San Giorgio and Castano Primo, and this offered decisive support to the industrial development of the municipality.
To celebrate the building's inauguration, Queen Elena donated a bronze sculpture entitled The Wasp, by sculptor Guendalina Williams, to the lucky dip for the San Giorgio kindergarten.
[69] Three important public buildings and a monument were also constructed in this decade: they were the Aqueduct Tower (1921, now no longer extant), the War Memorial (1921), the municipal cemetery (1928), and the present town hall (originally intended as an elementary school, 1929).
[83] With the construction of the new school complex in Piazza IV Novembre, all municipal offices, which were also previously housed in the Lucini Arborio Mella Palace, were moved to the building on Via Gerli.
[84] The establishment of the "Casa del Circolo Società Anonima per azioni" in today's Family Circle building, which already existed at the beginning of the 20th century and was originally intended for commercial activities, dates back to 1926.
During his tenure Bassi hid a family of Milanese Jews in the elementary school of San Giorgio (today's City Hall), procuring false identity documents for them and providing continuous moral and material assistance for fifteen months until the Liberation.
The crisis got progressively worse, damaging the economy, employment and the industrial fabric: many companies closed, especially in the textile, clothing and footwear sectors, and many others were involved in a downsizing process.
