Insubria

The symbol of Insubria (when conceived as the Duchy of Milan) is the Milanese Ducal flag, the Visconti child-swallowing serpent quartered with the Imperial eagle.

From the 14th to the 17th century, among the men of letters at the Milan Ducal Court, the terms "Insubre" and "Insubria" were used to give awareness of unity and a higher national identity to the still vital autonomous communes.

"Insubria" thus denoted the core of the then extensive Duchy of Milan, as attested in the writings of Benzo d'Alessandria, Giovanni Simonetta, Thomas Coryat, Bernardino Corio and Andrea Alciato.

The term fell into oblivion until the 1990s, when Insubria came into favour again because of a series of events, the first of which was the founding (in 1995) of the above-mentioned "Regio Insubrica", a cross-boundary cooperation community whose aim is to promote the cultural, economic and social elements which draw Italian Switzerland and the border provinces together.

In 1996 the Terra Insubre Cultural Association was officially set up in Varese; its purposes are the spreading and promotion of the history and natural environment of the Insubrian territory to a vast audience.

At present (2006) the association has about 1500 members and two detached branches (Milan and Marcallo con Casone), as well as a quarterly review also named Terra Insubre.

Domà Nunch has no institutional representatives, but it mainly organizes conferences, rallies and popular fairs; among them the annual Insubrian National Day every 5 September, to celebrate the foundation of the Duchy of Milan; the Forum on the Environmental Emergencies in Insubria, which took place in March 2007 in Uboldo; the Forum on the Milanese Language in April 2007 in Nerviano, which reconciled the biggest linguistic associations of the region; the summit Olona: A Broken Valley in March 2008 in Gorla Minore; the three-day Olona Valley Festival in June 2008; and the rallies against the Pedemontana highway project in November 2009 and February 2010.