Gallarate
4025927
194537377
2008-02-27T23:51:43Z
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4928500
Reverting possible vandalism by [[Special:Contributions/68.75.164.225|68.75.164.225]] to version by AndreasJS. False positive? [[User:ClueBot/FalsePositives|report it]]. Thanks, [[User:ClueBot]]. (248095) (Bot)
{{Infobox CityIT |
img_coa = Gallarate-Stemma.png|
official_name = Comune di Gallarate|
region = [[Lombardy]] |
province = [[province of Varese|Varese]] (VA) |
elevation_m = 238|
area_total_km2 = 20|
population_as_of = [[31 December]],[[2004]] |
population_total = 48927|
population_density_km2 = 2446|
timezone = [[Central European Time|CET]], [[Coordinated Universal Time|UTC]]+1 |
coordinates = {{coor dm|45|39|N|08|47|E}}|
frazioni = Arnate, Cajello, Cascinetta, Cedrate, Crenna, Madonna in Campagna, Moriggia, Ronchi, Sciarè |
telephone = 0331|
postalcode = 21013|
gentilic = Gallaratesi|
saint = San Cristoforo |
day = [[25 July ]] |
mayor = Nicola Mucci |
website = [http://www.comune.gallarate.va.it/ www.comune.gallarate.va.it] |
}}
'''Gallarate''' is a [[city]] of [[Lombardy]], [[Italy]], in the [[Province of Varese]]. It has a population of 48,927.
The city is of medieval origin. It is remarkable mainly for its textile factories. It is the junction of railways to [[Varese]], [[Laveno]] and [[Arona]] (for the Simplon). Six miles to the west are the electric works of Vizzola, where 23,000 hp are derived from the [[river Ticino]].
The city in the first part of 19th century had a strong textile industry.
Introduction
Gallarate is a City of Lombardy, Italy, in the Province of Varese. Its name suggests a Celtic origin, since there is a similarity that exists between the first part of the name with “Galla,” and with the term “Gaul” (Rooster) from the modern Italian “Gallo.” The city has a population of 48,927 and is of pre-Roman origin. It is remarkable mainly for its textile factories. It also serves as the railway junctions to Varese, Laveno and Arona (for the Simplon). Six miles to the west are the electric works of Vizzola, where 23,000 hp are derived from the Ticino. In the first part of nineteenth century, the city had a strong textile industry. Prince Eugene of Savoy-Carignano granted the City of Gallarate its merchant privileges on 19 December 1860 by signing the granting document himself.
Geography
Located in the lower part of Varese province or “Varesotto,” the region includes the “Hills” and “Moreniche” of Crenna a Cajello. The municipality borders with the municipalities of Cavaria, Cassano Magnago, Busto Arsizio, Samarate, Cardano al Campo, Arsago Seprio, and Besnate. The City, however, has had the natural tendency to link up with the surrounding urban agglomeration in the vicinity of the nearby Milan metropolitan area. Its territory is crossed by the river “Arnetta,” and belongs to the Ticino River National Park, although the river itself does not even physically touch the actual city of Gallarate.
History: Early History and Viscounts Period
Founded by the Celts and later conquered by the Romans, Gallarate was mentioned as an important “vicus” or village in documents dating back to the Roman conquest of what was then called “Gallia Cisalpine,” that is ‘Gaul This Side of the Alps’ (The Po Valley). During the Frankish hegemony, a castle was erected upon the remains of the original Roman fortifications located beside the still existing Santa Maria Basilica. The castle does not exist anymore, but its ancient location is identified through the city’s topography and by the street name Via Postcastello. The basilica, built later, is mentioned as a “Capo Pieve,” or ‘City Center’ in the codex known as the Pergamum of 974 A.D., written under the Emperor Otto II. This document, conserved in the State Archives of Milan, is the oldest surviving text where the town is mentioned specifically by name.
After the obliteration of Castelseprio by Ottone Visconti in 1287, Gallarate became the capital of the “Seprio,” a vast and important county at the time. During these years, Gallarate saw a period of prosperity and economic growth that would last for the entire reign of the Viscontis’ control, which continued until the beginning of French rule two centuries later (1450). Documents in the National Archives refer to Gallarate as an important centre of commercial exchange between both Italian and foreign markets, particularly for cotton, drapes, flax and textiles. Distinguished families such as the Rosnati, Reina, Masera, Palazzi, Macchi, Curioni, Mari and the Guenzati represented the nobility and the merchant classes. This period was also noted as a time of great civic improvement and the beginning of Gallarate as a center of industrial activity.
The Historical Periods of Spanish, French and Austrian Domination and the Risorgimento
Because of the great struggle between the competing Visconti and Torriani families, which culminated at Battle of Desio and the ultimate victory of Visconti’s family - The whole period is mentioned in the historical romance “Marco Visconti” written by Tommaso Grassi - the town of Gallarate lost its independence. At this time, however, the city fell under foreign domination, initially under the Spanish and then under the French, through the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. In between this political instability, Gallarate became a private fief of some of the competing nobles and powerful Italian families such as the Bentivolgio, Pallavicino, Caracciolo, Altemps, Visconti, Castelbarco. Nevertheless, the town did not lose her key role in the regional economy and was later awarded by a decree of Joseph II Emperor of Austria as the capital of the vast Austrian territories in Northern Italy.
During the Napoleonic era, Gallarate saw the birth of an illustrious Borges class, which had been able to merge some of the new political ideas of freedom begotten by the French revolution sweeping Europe at that time. This intellectual ferment combined with a prodigious industrial revolution in Gallarate. As capital city of the 23rd District of Olona’s Department, Gallarate took part in the Political Meetings of Lyon in 1802. After the restoration of 1815, Gallarate became a part of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, which was established in northern Italy after the defeat of Napoleon, according to the decisions of the Congress of Vienna, on 9 June 1815, through the actions of its Mayor Ottavio Rosnati. During this period a great deal of political turmoil had erupted as result of the patriotic feelings that many of the ‘Gallaratesi,” patriots such as Luigi Borghi and Filippo Guenzati had at that time for what was then known as Moravia. Moravia was under Austrian rule, and is now the present day Czech Republic (the latter Filippo Guenzati was imprisoned into the infamous Spilberg prison). Giuseppe and Pompeo Castelli where the owners of the “Renaissance Pharmacy,” now known as the “Daho Pharmacy,” where the so-called “Free Spirits” held their secret political meetings and where, as the tradition says, the writer Gerolamo Rovetta found the inspiration for his book “Romanticism.”
The city of Gallarate became a part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1859. Like the other Italian towns of nineteenth century Italy, Gallarate provided its own contribution to the new Italian Nation. Its sons had fought and died in all the wars in which Italy was involved, to include the War of Independence against Austria and in both World Wars, as well as in the colonial wars. Many Gallaratians lost their lives in the fight for their political freedom and during the civil strife that followed the armistice of September 8, 1943 during the Second World War; others lost their lives in the Nazi’s concentration camps. As a permanent memory to those tragic periods in its history, two monuments were erected in the city of Gallarate. One, the WW I monument designed by Enrico Butti, was erected in 1924 in Risorgimento Square. The other, known as the Resistance Monument, was placed in Camussi Square by Arnaldo Pomodoro in 1980.
The modern industry in Gallarate
By the latter half of the nineteenth century modern industry had begun to take over many areas of Italy. In a few decades, Gallarate became an important industrial city. After the Granting of City Privileges in 1860, the city of Gallarate saw its industrial role enhanced thanks to its highly motivated citizens operating in different fields of industry and commerce. Some distinguished early industrialists of Gallarate stand out: Alessandro Maino, Cesare Macchi, Carlo Borgomaneri, Pietro Bellora and Giuseppe Calderara, all from the textile industry, and Cesare Galdabini, who was a pioneer in the manufacturing industry. Yet these results would not have been achieved, let alone possible, without the productive contributions of Gallarate’s working classes.
Nevertheless, this period was also marked by heavy social tensions brought about by the rapid political and economic changes wrought by Gallarate’s own industrial revolution, which was a common, world-wide challenge for most economies during the later years of the nineteenth century. Nowadays, Gallarate’s industrial structure no longer includes these giant industrial powerhouses of the past. Their existence, however, is still marked out by the presence of the high chimneys, which are still visible along Gallarate’s skyline. Many of the old Liberty-style buildings, where thousands of Gallaratesi worked during the past century-and-a-half, have been turned into new modern multi-level shopping centers and plazas. The latter is another new commercial reality of modern Gallarate.
==External links==
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[[Category:Cities and towns in Lombardy]]
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