The history of Busto Arsizio, according to the hypotheses advanced by some historians. and later re-proposed by local history scholars,. cites speaking of a linguistic "island." would have seen its beginnings with the Ligurians. The later presence of the Romans, mentioned by many authors,For example, Francesco Bombognini in his book , speaking of the locus ruined by the Galli-Senones, he says that it was later restored by the Romans, who established in Insubria their colonies, from which some families seem to derive, such as the Lupa, once numerous in Busto, and the Crespi (Crispi) still very widespread here. is shown by the town's urban distribution..
Known in the early Middle Ages for the tanning of hides, the first mention of the city dates from 1053, when the name Bvsti is mentioned on a plaque located in the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio in Milan.
By decree of Cardinal Charles Borromeo, on April 4, 1583, Busto Arsizio, then under the rule of Duke Filippo Maria Visconti, was detached from the Vicariate of Seprio and placed at the head of what until then had been the Parish of Olgiate Olona. From that time it thus had its own podestà.
The origins of the activity that made the town a major textile center date back to the Middle Ages: in 1375 "one can hear a loom in almost every house," as testified a few centuries later by historian Pietro Antonio Crespi Castoldi in his history of Busto Arsizio (De Oppido Busti Relationes).
In the second half of the nineteenth century the development of the town outside the defensive walls began, along the strà Balon (present-day Corso XX Settembre) and the Garottola road (present-day Via Mameli).. On October 30, 1864, Busto Arsizio was granted the title of city in the Kingdom of Italy. Due to the intense activity of the entrepreneur Enrico dell'Acqua, it acquired the dual profile of cotton and mechanical town in the late nineteenth century, thus securing its economic well-being.
Many entrepreneurs built their villas in the style in vogue in the early twentieth century, Art Nouveau, still an important part of Busto's architectural heritage. Beginning in 1928, the city's history became intertwined with that of two other former municipalities, Sacconago and Borsano, which became neighborhoods. Today Busto Arsizio is a modern industrial and commercial center of more than 83,000 inhabitants, located in one of the most industrialized areas in Europe, the Alto Milanese.
Hypotheses on the origins Busto Arsizio, according to some hypotheses, has Ligurian origins. The Ligurians, to obtain space for the cultivation of vines and some cereals, as well as for the construction of stone huts covered with straw roofs, used the technique of slash-and-burn: that is, they set fire to the forest that then covered the entire Po Valley. Also in what was later called Silva longa, they made a Bustum,. or new settlement, which was the beginning of what is now the city of Busto Arsizio. This settlement developed near the Tenore stream, a watercourse that, in ancient times, had a greater and more constant water flow than it does today. The stream, coming from the moraine hills of the lower Varesotto area, flowed down along today's Bellini and Montebello streets..
According to these hypotheses, evidence that Busto Arsizio constituted a fossilized Ligurian island on Lombard land would also come from the study of the Busto dialect. The facts would date back to prehistoric times, when the lands from the Rhône to the Camonica Valley were inhabited by Ligurian tribes. Their language in the second half of the first millennium B.C. was transformed first by the Gallic domination, which, however, did not penetrate everywhere equally (in the case of Busto Arsizio the traces are scarce), and then by the deeper and more incisive one of the Romans. Busto Arsizio, therefore, would have constituted for a long time a Ligurian enclave immersed in the Insubrian land and would therefore have had only modest contact with those Celtic populations that arrived in various waves from central Europe by crossing the Alps. Nevertheless, some ancient districts of the city, such as Sciornago, show typical Celtic endings. The same can be said of Sacconago and Borsano, whose suffixes "-ago" and "-ano," along with "-ate" (found in the nearby town of Gallarate), were characteristic of the Insubrians.
The fact that the area was inhabited in Roman times is indicated, according to some, by the regular pattern of the streets in the historic center,Some speculate that the cardo and decumanus, the route of which would still be recognized today, started from St. Mary's Square and went all the way to the four city gates. and by the discovery of some late Roman objects, probably from the period between the second and fourth centuries CE. From an administrative point of view, it was part of the regio XI Transpadana. A reliable temporal placement of an early Roman settlement is around 200 B.C., when the Celts were defeated and subdued; with the reclamation of the Upper Milanese area, an agricultural colony of Busto was founded.
On the territory of Busto Arsizio (but far from the built-up area), in Roman times, passed the Via Severiana Augusta, a Roman consular road that connected Mediolanum (modern Milan) with the Verbannus Lacus (Lake Verbano, i.e. Lake Maggiore), and from there to the Simplon Pass (lat. Summo Plano).
Early Middle Ages
Known in the early Middle Ages for the tanning of hides, the first mention of the town dates back to 1053, when the name Bvsti is mentioned on a plaque located in the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio in Milan. Other mentions are from the 12th century, in two documents from 1119The document concerns a dispute over some land between the "decumans" of Milan Cathedral and the "chaplains." and 1140.This is a contract by which a certain Amizone da Busto and his wife Ottavia ceded fields located "in loco Busti qui dicitur Arsizio" to the church of Santa Maria Jemale in Milan.
During this period the locus Busti followed the fortunes of today's Castelseprio, a center that experienced a period of considerable splendor after the barbarian invasions. The Lombards, starting in the 6th century, made it the most important stronghold in the region north of Milan.. Lombard's rule dealt aa death blow to the surviving Roman institutions and established a new political, civil and economic order that was already almost feudal in nature.
Lombard's rule ceased when Charlemagne defeated King Desiderius, whose fall occurred in 774. Lombard institutions were replaced by those of the Franks: the dukes were opposed by counts and marquises, and feudalism was imminent.
Regarding the Carolingian period and the subsequent period of the kingdoms of Italy, there is a lack, as far as Busto Arsizio is concerned, of documentation. The locus Busti continued to be part of the contado of Seprio, which became so powerful that it had its own mint.. As far as ecclesiastical institutions were concerned, Busto Arsizio depended on Olgiate Olona, the head parish.The parish seat was moved to Busto Arsizio in 1583 by Charles Borromeo.
Late Middle Ages
The oldest building still standing in the town is the base of the bell tower of the church of St. Michael the Archangel, dating back to the 9th or 10th century.. The dedication of the church to St. Michael the Archangel, whose cult was particularly widespread among the Lombards, has led to the assumption of an original settlement of that population near the church, which in its present phase must have replaced an older, smaller building of worship. The presence of a fortification is consistent with the location of the site, which is at the highest point of the ancient municipal territory, and with the appellation of borgo, assumed in medieval times by the ancient locus Busti.
Around the year 1000, the locus Busti was a fief of a family of captains from Milan, had a castle, and began to influence the struggles between the people, minor feudal lords, and militia. The Milanese chronicler Galvaneo Fiamma stated that among the supporters of Archbishop Ariberto d'Intimiano in the struggles against the minor nobles were the captains of Busto Arsizio,The captains were nobles of ancient Lombard origin, possessors of hereditary fiefs in the chief towns of the parishes. who like all captains were against communal liberties..
The autonomy of the contado of Seprio was threatened by the growing power of the commune of Milan. This situation favored attempts by Busto Arsizio to evade the count's jurisdiction. This was the period just before the formation of the Lombard League, founded in 1167 to counter Frederick I Barbarossa in his attempt to expand imperial influence in the Po region. Three years earlier, on June 9, 1164, Frederick I granted Rainald of Dassel, archbishop of Cologne and arch-chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire, a fief that included the parish of Dairago (with the ancient commune of Capopieve and large territories in the area), Busto Arsizio, (part of the parish of Olgiate Olona) and Bernate. Frederick I was defeated in the Battle of Legnano, fought on May 29, 1176. The early stages of the clash had as its theater the countryside between Busto Arsizio and Borsano,... or, according to other sources, the area between Borsano and Legnano. Among others, the so-called Company of Death took part in the battle, which included a large number of people from Busto.
The 12th century in Busto was characterized by the growth of the borough, which saw the phenomenon, common to much of Italy, of the formation of the social group of the bourgeoisie taking place within it.. Strengthened by their economic status, the bourgeoisie (merchants, landowners and homeowners) wanted to take an active part in public life.
The town was fortified, being provided with defensive walls and a moat. The Tenore was diverted and led into the eastern moat (present Manzoni Square), where the castle was located. At the height of Porta Piscina, one of the four Busto gates (the others were Porta Savico, Porta Basilica and Porta Sciornago), a small canal was created, running along the contrada Piscina (present-day Via Matteotti). This one with regular flow went to feed a pool in the center of Piazza Santa Maria, called Piscina, which was essential for the population's water supply. The Piscina also had an outfall, which collected the drains from the public market. It ran along what is now Bambaia Street (which until the nineteenth century had the name contrada del Riale) and eventually dispersed into some fields southeast of the village, which were thus irrigated..
At the end of the twelfth century and the beginning of the subsequent one, as stated in the Statuti della compartizione delle strade e delle fagie,. the locus was in charge of 1526 bracciaLinear unit of measurement that ranged from 58 cm to 70 cm according to the locality. on the Rho road, one of the six roads that led to the six main gates of Milan and along which the six districts (called "fagge") had been aggregated. In 1212, the consuls of the fagge were created, and Busto Arsizio was assigned to the I Consulate of Porta Ticinese and Vercellina, which included the Upper Milanese territory between the Ticino and Olona rivers.