San Giorgio su Legnano (Legnanese: ) is a comune (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Milan in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northwest of Milan.
San Giorgio su Legnano borders the following municipalities: Legnano, Villa Cortese, Canegrate, Busto Garolfo. It is located in the Po Valley northwest of Milan, from which it is 34 km away, near the valley in which the Olona river flows. Located slightly higher than the neighbouring Legnano (hence the preposition "su", en. "up", in the name), it is one of the smaller municipalities in the metropolitan city of Milan.
Since 1957, the town has hosted the annual Campaccio competition, a cross country running event which attracts world class athletes.3 STELLE CHE ILLUMINANO IL CAMPACCIO. Unione Sportiva Sangiorgese. Retrieved on 2011-01-12. On 10 December 2006, San Giorgio su Legnano hosted the 2006 European Cross Country Championships.
Geography Territory The territory of San Giorgio su Legnano is located at the northern edge of the Po Valley, south of the Alpine foothills. It rises on a moorish plateau at the edge of the hollow dug by the Olona river. The soil consists mainly of pebbles, gravel, sand and clay. Originally the territory was covered with a thin layer of humus unsuitable for forest growth and agricultural cultivation, so as to be largely moorland.
The territory has an area of 2.3 square kilometer and is distributed on land that has an altitude of between 189 m and 201 m above sea level. According to the seismic hazard, the municipality is in zone 4 (irrelevant seismicity), as established by PCM ordinance 3274 of 20/03/2003.
The town The urban fabric of San Giorgio su Legnano has developed around the old town. Then, gradually, between 1914 and 1958, San Giorgio was the subject of a marked urbanization that led to the occupation of most of the area of the municipality.
At the same time, there has been a significant increase in the number of new citizens entering the area, who have started to work in the fledgling industries in the area; as can be seen from demographic trends, between 1861 and 1961, the population of San Giorgio quadrupled.
Then, due to the various economic crises that followed in the decades of the 20th century, a new phase began that led to the closure of many companies with the consequent birth of many brownfield areas, many of which were recovered.
Climate
According to , San Giorgio su Legnano is in Zone E with a rating of 2451 GR/G. Due to its location in the upper Po Valley, San Giorgio su Legnano has a Continental climate with cold winters characterized by many days of snowfall and fog. Summers are hot humid, and moderately wet; temperatures can exceed and humidity 80%. That humidity persists for the entire year because of precipitation brought on by cyclones originating in the Mediterranean or in the Russian north. That precipitation itself remains in the Po Valley because of its poor ventilation.
Data from the indicates that, based on the more than thirty years (1961–1990) of reference accumulated by the World Meteorological Organization, that the average temperature of the Milan area the coldest month, January, is and that of the hottest month, July, is . Rainfall averages at and has peaks in spring and autumn, countered by a relative drop during the winter.
The basic climatic data of San Giorgio su Legnano are:
Toponymy
The reference to the saint in the name of the municipality comes from a small church dedicated to Saint George attached to a convent of Augustinian friars present in the Legnano countryside, whose existence is attested by a manuscript of 1261. This monastery was the original nucleus of the Castle Visconteo of Legnano. It is likely that the presence of this monastery has then determined the title to Saint George, as well as the castle, also of a district of Legnano (the "Costa di San Giorgio") and the nearby municipality of San George su Legnano.
In the Middle Ages, the community of San Giorgiowas known as "Sotena" or "Sotera", as can be read in some parish archival notes that refer to a medieval repert. The first reference to Saint George in the name of the village appears on documents from the early 15th century, which indicate the community as locus Sancti Georgi Plebis Parabiaghi Duc. Mlni (it. "the location of Saint George, of the pieve of Parabiago, Duchy of Milan), while on maps of the Borromeo era (16th century) the town is mentioned as Cascina Sancti Georgi Plebis Parabiaghi Duc. Mlni ("Cassina di San Giorgio, of the pieve of Parabiago, Duchy of Milan"). San Giorgio was a member until 1535 of the municipality of Legnano, from which it was divided after the administrative reform of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
After the Italian unification, following the enactment of the royal decree N°941, on 23 October 1862, the municipality took the name "San Giorgio su Legnano" to distinguish it from other municipalities of the same name.
History
From Prehistory to Middle Age In Prehistory the sangiorgese territory was covered by moorland. It was therefore an area where only bushes grew spontaneously, given the poor fertility of the soil. Over the centuries, thanks to the fertilization work of local farmers and the construction of artificial canals in the surrounding areas, the sangiorgese territory has been made arable. Once vast areas were cultivated and the flora of the wooded areas was composed mainly of oaks, hornbeams, chestnuts, common hazels, planes, ashes, poplars, elms, maples and alders.
The oldest archaeological records found in the territory of San Giorgio su Legnano are made up of Roman necropolises, the dating of which corresponds to the imperial age (1st century BC-4th century). The oldest tombs are strongly affected by Celtic influence, as the Romanization process is not yet complete.
The first documented naming the sangiorgese community is to an inscription carved on some bricks dated 1393 that were found during some excavations at the Church of Santissimo Crocifisso carried out in 1769, as evidenced by some notes in the San Giorgio su Legnano parish archive:
In English this archive text means: "this Church, having been landed in the refabrication of a new one in 1769, found two large bricks on the foundations on which Count Giorgio Giulini writer read the following inscription: 1393 – 26 May – is the first church built in this Sotena Commune in Glory of God and Saint George and was consecrated by the Reverend Archbishop". Thus, originally, the sangiorgese community was called Sotena or Sotera and the aforementioned church, now no longer existing and later replaced by the Church of Santissimo Crocifisso, turns out to be the oldest temple of San Giorgio that has been traced. A widespread folk etymology of the word Sotera, which ran among the inhabitants of the area, would like this term to be a reference to the allusion to the Roman necropolis ("underground": in the legnanese dialect sota tèra).
Apart from this inscription, there is no written news of the sangiorgese community of the Middle Ages. In the register of churches of the Liber Notitiae Sanctorum Mediolani of Geoffrey da Bussero, which describes the religious context of the Milanese area between the end of the 13th century and the beginning of the 14th century, San Giorgio is not yet present. In this historical period, San Giorgio su Legnano was therefore a small group of houses that did not yet have its own church; the first religious building in the community to be traced is the church mentioned above, which was consecrated in 1393.
The only tangible evidence of the medieval San Giorgio is a sixth-door window, with a terracotta edge, present in a building overlooking the main square, the so-called Casa della regina (en. "Queen's House"), which is perhaps the oldest building in the country; on this dwelling, until the 1930s there was a coat of arms indicating the belonging of the building to the Visconti and that was taken away by an antique dealer: then the traces were lost.
The Battle of Legnano may have also been fought on the territory of San Giorgio su Legnano. One of the chronicles of the famous battle (29 May 1176), the Annales of Cologne, contains information indicating where the Carroccio was probably, and therefore where plausibly the battle would be fought: so that no warrior could withdraw, the Lombardi "aut vincere aut mori parati, grandi fossa suum exercitum circumdederunt", i.e. "ready to win or die in the field, placed their army inside a large pit". This would suggest that the Carroccio was placed on the edge of a steep slope, so that the imperial cavalry, whose arrival was expected along the course of the Olona river, would be forced to storm the center of the army of the Lombard League going up the hollowing. Considering the phases of the battle, this could mean that the famous battle may have also been fought on sangiorgese soil near the Costa San Giorgio, quartier belonging to municipality of Legnano, or on the territory of today's San Martino, another quartier belonging to municipality of Legnano, not being detectable, in other parts of the area, a hollow with these characteristics. Federico Barbarossa's army then came to the other side, from Borsano: this forced the municipal fanties to resist around the Carroccio, since they had the escape road barred by the Olona river, which they had behind them.
Popular legend has it that in those days a tunnel connected San Giorgio at the castle of Legnano, and that through this tunnel the emperor Federico Barbarossa managed to escape and save himself after the defeat in battle. In the 20th century, during some excavations, trunks of a very ancient tunnel were actually found. The first, not far from San Giorgio su Legnano, was explored by one of the workers who brought it back to light. The worker was dissuaded from exploration after walking five or six meters, due to a breath of wind that extinguished the candle. A second section towards Legnano was discovered and immediately obstructed by the municipal administration for safety reasons.Le pubblicazioni de' "Il Belvedere" – San Giorgio su Legnano – Cenni storici – con il patrocinio dell'Amministrazione comunale In addition, during excavations carried out in 2014 at the castle of Legnano, the entrance to another secret gallery was identified.
In April 1273, Napoleone and Francesco della Torre welcomed king Edward I of England and Eleanor of Castile to Milan on their return from a trip to the Middle East. After taking leave of the Della Torre, the royals were taken to the castle of Legnano, where they stopped for one night. A popular legend, however, claims that the royals, on the way back, stayed overnight at San Giorgio su Legnano in the so-called "Queen's House". On the documents of the time, the event is described, citing the fact that the English royals had been housed "a Santo Georgio near Legnano".
From Middle Age to 18th century
In the Middle Ages the community of Sotena, like the nearby Legnano, was on the border between the Seprio peasants (whose capital was Castelseprio) and Burgaria (probably under the hegemony of Parabiago), two counties dependent on the Lombardy Brand, which was a territorial division from the Longobards and Franks.
At the time, the community depended on both the civil and religious aspects of the Pieve of Parabiago. Since the 16th century, San Giorgio had a mayor, even at the time a representative of the community. The mayor was flanked by a chancellor whose duties were similar to those of the municipal secretary in the contemporary Italian order. Among other tasks, the chancellor kept the municipal archive in his own home. In 1558, as shown by the Spanish register, the municipality consisted of eleven courtyards. At that time San Giorgio was therefore a small village.