The term Alto Milanese (Alt Milanes in Lombard), also called Altomilanese, is used to refer to the territory of Lombardy that includes the northwestern part of the metropolitan city of Milan, the southern part of the province of Varese and some municipalities in the southwestern part of the province of Como. It largely corresponds with one of the Italian provinces planned in the past: the province of Seprio. The Alto Milanese can be divided into four zones having their respective major cities as their main centers: the Bustese, Legnanese, Gallaratese and Saronnese. The major rivers of the Alto Milanese are the Olona and the Ticino, while among the noteworthy streams are the Arno, the Tenore, the Bozzente, the Lura, the Rile, and the Strona.
The core of the Alto Milanese consists of the Olona conurbation, i.e. the urban area including, from north to south, the cities of Gallarate, Busto Arsizio, and Legnano. Alto Milanese, which is one of the most industrialized and densely populated areas in Italy, has a population of about 700,000 inhabitants spread over an area of 235 square kilometers. The primary communication network consists of the Autostrada dei laghi (A8 Milan-Varese, A9 Lainate-Como-Chiasso and A26 Gallarate-Gattico branch road), Sempione state road 33, state road 233 Varesina, from state road 527 Bustese, and from the Domodossola-Milan, Luino-Gallarate and Gallarate-Varese railway lines (operated by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana) and the Saronno-Novara line with its Sacconago-Malpensa Aeroporto branch line (operated by Ferrovienord).
The territory, which features waterways and a temperate climate, was the scene of the development of settlements since ancient times. During the Early Middle Ages, the Alto Milanese was divided between the counties of Seprio (with the capital Castelseprio) and Burgaria (probably linked to Parabiago), two counties dependent on the march of Lombardy; between the 13th and 15th centuries, with the dissolution and disappearance of the two counties, the Alto Milanese began to distinguish itself as an area of influence of Busto Arsizio, Legnano and Gallarate. In the Late Middle Ages the Alto Milanese was the scene of the Battle of Legnano and the Battle of Parabiago. The Alto Milanese is home to the western Lombard dialect, a local variant of the Lombard language, a Romance language derived from Latin having Celtic substratum and Lombardic superstratum.
Noteworthy among the events organized in the Alto Milanese are the Palio di Legnano and the Busto Arsizio Film Festival. The Palio di Legnano is a traditional festival that has been held annually in Legnano since 1935 to commemorate the battle of the same name where a historical parade and a horse race among Legnano's eight historic contrade (districts) find their place, closing the event. The Busto Arsizio Film Festival is a film festival of national importance whose goals are to promote high-quality Italian productions. Sports competitions held in the Alto Milanese include the Campaccio and Cinque Mulini cross-country races (both included in the World Athletics Cross Country Permit international circuit), the Coppa Bernocchi bicycle race, which is part of the Trittico Lombardo, and the San Giorgio su Legnano chess tournament. The Alto Milanese was home to the 2006 European Cross Country Championships and the 2012 European Fencing Championships, with the former being held in San Giorgio su Legnano and the latter in Legnano. Originating in the Alto Milanese area are bruscitti, a main course made from finely chopped beef cooked long.
Physical geography
Territory
The territory of the Alto Milanese can be geographically divided into two zones. The north-central zone is hilly, with some valleys, such as the Olona Valley and the Arno Valley. The southern zone, on the other hand, includes the upper Po Valley. The soil, which is mainly composed of pebbles, gravel, sand and clay, was once covered by a thin layer of humus unsuitable for forest growth and agricultural cultivation, resulting in it being largely heathland..
Over the centuries, due to the fertilization work done by local farmers and the construction of artificial canals, the territory of Alto Milanese has been made cultivable. Until the 19th century, the landscape included heathland and the cultivation of vines and cereals, while at present there is little differentiated agricultural activity, with maize being the main crop.
According to seismic classification, the Alto Milanese is in zone 4 (irrelevant seismicity), as established by PCM Ordinance No. 3274 of March 20, 2003.
Hydrography
In the north, Lake Maggiore (Sesto Calende and Angera), Lake Comabbio, and Lake Monate are part of the Alto Milanese. The major rivers are the Olona and the Ticino. There are numerous streams, including the Arno, Tenore, Bozzente, Lura, Rile, and Strona. The Olona River has led to considerable urban and industrial development along its course: numerous manufacturing activities have flourished on its banks, particularly textile, mechanical, and chemical industries, which originally exploited its waters to power machinery. As a result of this development, which is predominantly autonomous from that of the remaining part of the Milan metropolitan area, the Alto Milanese is one of the most industrialized and urbanized in Milan's northern hinterland.
The main watercourses in the Bustese, one of the territories of the Alto Milanese, are the Olona River and its tributaries Rile and Tenore. Minor watercourses are the Fontanile di Tradate, the Riale delle Selve, the Mornaga, the Valdessera, the Selvagna, the Marubbio, the Riale di Torba and the Bozzone. In the Bustese area, there are no major bodies of water, while there are numerous ponds fed by the various rivulets and some resurgences, of which the major ones are Stagno Boza, Stagno di Torba, and Laghetto Madonnetta. In Gallaratese, however, the waterways are the Ticino and its tributaries Arno and Strona. In the Legnanese area flows the Olona, while the Saronnese is crossed by the Lura stream, which originates in the territory of the municipality of Bizzarone and flows into the Olona. Also noteworthy are artificial canals, such as the Villoresi Canal and the Naviglio Grande, both of which cross the Alto Milanese.
Climate
The climate of the Alto Milanese is characterized by a wide annual temperature range, with low minimum temperatures in winter (-4/-6 °C, even with peaks as low as -7/-10 °C) and high maximum temperatures in summer (30-32 °C, sometimes with peaks of 35 °C). Rainfall is mainly in the spring and autumn months, although thunderstorms are frequent in hot and humid summers.
The characteristic "basin" shape of the Po Valley means that there is a considerable stagnation of air both in winter and in summer, with different effects in the two seasons: in winter, when there is an accumulation of cold and a lack of wind, a marked thermal inversion is formed, which can last for several days, especially on humid and foggy days, causing very cold days and intense frost, while in summer it causes violent thunderstorms.
Data from the Milan Malpensa weather station, based on the World Meteorological Organization's 30-year reference average (1961-1990), show that the minimum temperature in the coldest month, January, is around −4 °C, while the maximum temperature in the hottest month, July, is around 28°C. The average annual rainfall is over 1,000 mm and peaks in spring and fall, with a relative minimum in winter. History
Prehistory
The Alto Milanese area, which features waterways and a temperate climate, was the scene of the development of settlements since prehistoric times. In Cadrezzate and on the areas along the shores of Lake Monate, pile-dwelling settlements have been found at Il Sabbione, and in 2011 they were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List along with other ancient settlements in the Alps from prehistoric times.
These populations, according to scholars' hypotheses, then migrated south through the Alto Milanese following a strong population increase.. From the archaeological finds, it can be inferred that the Olona Valley was - already in prehistoric times - a relevant communication route..
Of later date was the development of the Canegrate culture first (from the 13th century B.C. onward) and the Golasecca culture later (between the 9th and 4th centuries B.C.), whose names derive from the respective localities where the first excavations were carried out, which led to the discovery of these prehistoric cultures.
In particular, the Canegrate culture was a protohistoric civilization that developed in the Po Valley from the Bronze Age on the territories of western Lombardy, eastern Piedmont, and Ticino. The material evidence found in Canegrate consisted of a necropolis made up of 165 tombs, within which there were metal and ceramic objects.. The Canegrate finds consist of a high concentration of burials that has few equals in northern Italy..
The Golasecca culture is an early Iron Age culture consisting of fifty tombs with pottery and metal objects. The material evidence is found scattered over a wide territory of 20,000 km2Raffaele de Marinis, Liguri e Celto-Liguri in Italia. Omniun terrarum alumna, Garzanti-Scheiwiller, 1988. south of the Alps, including the Po, Serio and Sesia rivers bounded on the north by the Alpine passes. The greatest density of finds has been in the subalpine hill belt, with a continuity of about a millennium, and this is the area that has seen the development of the two epicenters of the culture itself, which are the Sesto Calende-Golasecca-Castelletto Ticino areas and the area around Como.
Pre-Roman populations
In a series of excavation campaigns carried out in the Alto Milanese, artifacts dating back to the settlement in the Po Valley of the Celts were discovered, which can be dated between the 4th and 1st centuries B.C. and are related to the La Tène culture. Finds related to the Etruscans and the Veneti have also been found in the Alto Milanese with excavations in Vergiate and Sesto Calende, respectively..
Archaeological finds from the historical period immediately following the Roman conquest of the Po Valley continued to be characterized by marked Celtic features, which gradually faded until they disappeared in the Augustan Age, that is, until the Romanization of the Alto Milanese was completed..
Roman era
The ancient Romans did not pursue forced assimilation of conquered populations, but allowed the inhabitants of the Alto Milanese to continue to profess their religion, use their language, and maintain their traditions.. The Romanization of the area thus took place in stages.. The fusion of the two cultures is evidenced by the artifacts attributable to the Augustan Age, which gradually lost the characteristics associated with Celtic civilization and assumed those typical of Roman culture..
In Roman imperial times the inhabitants of the Alto Milanese were organized administratively into vicus, communities that later gave rise to many of the modern municipalities... From the few viable rural settlements of the republican era, there was a shift in the imperial era to a more numerous and organized community with an urban fabric consisting of small isolated settlements in the countryside that revolved around the larger rural center. These rural communities had good agricultural productivity. With the crisis and then the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Alto Milanese also experienced a phase of social and economic decline..