The earliest documented trace of the history of San Giorgio su Legnano, a municipality in the province of Milan in the Altomilanese, refers to an inscription engraved on some bricks dated 1393 where the word "Sotena," which is believed to be the original name of the San Giorgio community, is engraved. These bricks were found during some excavations carried out near the Church of the Most Holy Crucifix in 1769. 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.
San Giorgio su Legnano was an agricultural town for centuries, whose stony soil provided the material for the construction of local farmsteads.. At the end of the 19th century, an economic and social transformation began in the Altomilanese that led San Giorgio su Legnano to be included in one of the most industrialized areas in Italy. Between the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, however, a process of deindustrialization set in, causing the closure of many manufacturing activities.
Prehistory
In prehistoric times, the territory of San Giorgio was covered by moorlands. It was therefore an area where only bushes grew spontaneously, given the low fertility of the soil. Over the centuries, due to the fertilization work done by local farmers and the construction of artificial canals in the surrounding areas, the territory of San Giorgio was made cultivable. At one time vast areas were cultivated, and the flora of the wooded areas consisted mainly of pedunculate oak, hornbeam, chestnut, hazel, plane, ash, oak, poplar, elm, maple and alder trees..
Although no prehistoric archaeological remains have been found in the territory of San Giorgio, it cannot be ruled out that the area was frequented by people belonging to prehistoric cultures of which evidence has instead been found in neighboring territories.. The oldest discovery in the Legnano area, dating back to the third millennium B.C., is a bowl made in the Copper Age and found near the border between Castellanza and Legnano,. among Roman-era furnishings. It is preserved at the Guido Sutermeister Civic Museum..
In the Legnano area, the next prehistoric evidence are finds related to the Canegrate culture, discovered in the municipality of the same name bordering San Giorgio su Legnano and dating back to the 13th century BC. This culture developed from the Recent Bronze Age through the Iron Age.
The next archaeological finds that have been found in the area are two bronze spearheads, which are dated to between the 9th and 8th centuries B.C.. They were found in Legnarello, a district of Legnano, in the last years of the 19th century and can be traced back to the archaic Golasecca culture (early Iron Age)..
Other finds discovered in Legnano from later periods (5th century B.C.) are also attributable to the Golasecca culture.
From this it can be inferred that the middle Olona Valley was a relevant communication route at the time. On the other hand, the findings are multiple for the 2nd century B.C. and later, that is, at a time when the Roman conquest had already been completed..
Roman era The oldest archaeological evidence found in the territory of San Giorgio su Legnano consists of Roman necropolises, the dating of which corresponds to the Imperial Age (1st century B.C.-4th century A.D.).. The oldest tombs are strongly influenced by the Celtic culture, as the process of Romanization was not yet complete.. 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)..
A total of two Roman necropolises were discovered... The first provided material dating from the first century B.C. to the fourth century. Initial excavations, which were carried out in 1925 on a farm in what was then Via Umberto I (now Via Mameli), unearthed a trove of miscellaneous pottery and iron implements datable to the Augustan period... Among them were a valuable black-glazed pottery and a purple glass bowl.. In the second phase of the excavations, various artifacts came to light, including blue glass paste rings and a coin, which allowed its dating. This coin was a copper as of the Triumvir monetalis C. Gallius Lupercus that was issued in 16 CE.
In the second necropolis, excavated in 1952, more complete grave goods were found.. Discovered near what is now Vittorio Veneto Street during construction work on a small villa, the necropolis consisted of twenty-three burials dated between the 1st century B.C. and the 1st century A.D., which yielded various archaeological materials including amphorae, kitchenware, balsam jars, oil lamps, knives, scrapers, nails, spindle whorls, and a coin, which made its dating possible... The coin had been issued in 8 B.C. during the monetary triumvirate of Marcelius Tullus.. Other finds from the same historical period were discovered in 1927 inside the park of Villa Parravicini. These grave goods, which were contained in two tombs, consisted of a number of amphorae. Also belonging to this necropolis, several ceramic objects contained in three tombs and dating to the second half of the first century B.C.. were found in 1987 during work on a sewage collector for a small villa. More artifacts were found in 2004 in Trento Street.
The findings testify that the territory of San Giorgio in late Roman times was intensively frequented, with the settlement of a wealthy social class. Unlike the early period of Roman rule, when the population was less intense, in the imperial age the area was involved in extensive trade with neighboring areas and was characterized by lively agricultural and livestock farming..
Middle Ages 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..
The earliest documented mention of the community of San Giorgio is an inscription carved on some bricks dated 1393, which were found during excavations at the Church of the Most Holy Crucifix carried out in 1769, as evidenced by notes in the parish archives:
Originally the community of San Giorgio was called "Sotena," and the church mentioned, now no longer extant and later replaced by the Church of the Crucifix, turns out to be the oldest temple of San Giorgio of which any record has been found. Apart from that inscription there is no written record of the San Giorgio community in the Middle Ages. 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. In this historical period, San Giorgio su Legnano was thus a small group of houses that did not yet have a church of its own; the first religious building in the community of which any trace has been found is the church mentioned above, which was consecrated in 1393..
The most probable hypothesis explaining the substitution of "Sotena" for "San Giorgio" is related to the presence of a monastery of Augustinian Regulars, with an adjoining small church dedicated to St. George, the existence of which is documented as early as 1231; however, the religious building does not appear in the aforementioned register of churches in the Liber Notitiae Sanctorum Mediolani.. 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. The monks, as a result of the "bullying" suffered by the local powerful, abandoned the monastery, signing a deed of cession dated October 14, 1261..
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. Between 1261 and 1273 the Della Torre family, new owners of the building, built two wings to the right and left of the tower, transforming the original convent into a proper fortification... This manor, then called the Castle of San Giorgio, has come down to the 21st century and is today's Legnano Castle. The existence of the original convent dedicated to St. George would probably have transmitted the cult of the saint to the surrounding countryside, which, in turn, would have resulted in the dedication of the church of "Sotena" to St. George. Later, the saint gave his name to the community itself.
The only tangible evidence of medieval San Giorgio is a lancet window, with a terracotta border, found in a building overlooking the main square, the so-called "Queen's House," which is perhaps the oldest building in the town.. On this dwelling, a coat of arms was placed until the 1930s, indicating that the building belonged to the Visconti family and which was removed by an antiquarian: traces of it were then lost..
The Battle of Legnano may also have been fought on the territory of San Giorgio. One of the chronicles of the famous battle (May 29, 1176), the Annals of Cologne, contains a piece of information that indicates where the Carroccio probably stood, and thus where the clash plausibly would have been fought: so that no warrior could retreat, the Lombards "aut vincere aut mori parati, grandi fossa suum exercitum circumdederunt," that is, "ready to win or die on the field, they 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 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. Considering the phases of the clash, this could mean that the famous battle could also have been fought on San Giorgio soil in the vicinity of Legnano's "costa di San Giorgio" district, or on the territory of today's San Martino district in Legnano, since a depression with these characteristics could not be identified elsewhere in the area. Barbarossa's army then arrived from the opposite side, from Borsano: this forced the municipal infantrymen to resist around the Carroccio, since they had their escape route barred by the Olona River, which was behind them..
A popular legend has it that in those days an underground tunnel connected San Giorgio to the castle of Legnano, and that through this tunnel Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa managed to escape and save himself after defeat in battle.. In the 20th century, during some excavations, sections of a very ancient underground tunnel were actually found. The first one, not far from San Giorgio su Legnano, was explored by one of the workers who unearthed it. The worker was dissuaded from exploration after traveling five or six meters because of a gust of wind that blew out the candle. A second section towards Legnano was discovered and immediately obstructed by the city administration for safety reasons.The publications of "Il Belvedere" - San Giorgio su Legnano - Historical Notes - under the patronage of the municipal administration In addition, during some excavations carried out in 2014 at Legnano Castle, the entrance to another secret tunnel was identified.