Origins and Middle Ages The first written memory of Brugherio dates back to the
Roman Empire when
Noxiate,
Sanctus Damianus,
Baragia and
Octavum were designated as the first settlements in the territory.
Noxiate corresponded to the current town centre (where the parish church of
Saint Bartholomew is now located), then split, during the
Carolingian period, between
Monza and
Cologno Monzese.
Baragia stretched north, including
Sanctus Damianus, and south, where there is the present city center.
Octavum corresponded to the current
San Cristoforo and it was located at mile No. 8 of the Roman road leading from Milan to Monza. An 853 document recorded the presence of "a hospice or a hospital for pilgrims ...". During the fourth century, the current Via dei Mille was a portion of
Via Burdigalense and this area belonged to
Ambrose, Bishop of Milan. This land was occupied by
a monastery of the
Benedictine nuns in 1098. Ambrose donated the property, and the convent which was there established, to his sister
Marcellina, who had chosen to retire to contemplative life. Between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries, the monastery and its territories went to other religious orders (including
Humiliatis). Up to 1362 it was still nuns who kept the administration of land assets after the transfer in the monastery of Saint Bartolo in
Rancate. The fourteenth century saw the political struggles between
Torriani and
Visconti for the domain of Milan and the cities under its government. Such strife were also felt in Brugherio: in 1282 it is said that in
Octavum rose a
castrum which was contended between the two families. Up to these events, the current municipal area was already divided in three
parishes: the current historic center and
Moncucco belonged to Monza; Baraggia that was part of Vimercate and Increa that was under Gorgonzola's authority.
16th and 17th centuries During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Brugherio suffered anarchy due to the
wars between the French and the Spanish, endured the economic crisis that characterized the
Spanish Lombardy at that time and was afflicted by repeated episodes of plague: the worsts were the one called "
the plague of Saint Charles" (1576-1577) and one called the "
plague of Manzoni" (1630), because it was described by
Alessandro Manzoni in
The Betrothed. In the sixteenth century, the territory of the town was split: a portion with Monza, another with
Vimercate and many other
local farmhouses.
18th century The eighteenth century brought big political changes in Lombardy: in 1714, at the end of the
War of the Spanish Succession (1700-1714), the Italian territories, belonging to Spain, went to the Austrian
Habsburgs, who took back order in administration and wise economic measures. The
Enlightenment, the social reforms and the government of
Maria Theresa (1740-1780) led to prosperity, stimulating the development of handicraft and farming. Common cultivations were
vines and
mulberry trees, that were used to feed the
silk worms, which were given by the owner to the tenant farmers. Mostly women and children worked on the breeding of silkworms.
19th century After the brief Napoleonic season in Italy, the coalition forces of
Austria,
Prussia,
Russia and Great Britain succeeded to overthrow the
Emperor of the French and to begin, following the
Congress of Vienna, the period of
Restoration. Lombardy, along with
Veneto, were united in the
Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, part of the Austrian Empire. In 1816, landowners of Brugherio tried to merge their own territories into a single municipality, but the project failed due to the resistance of the Austrian bureaucrats of Milan, who did not want to waste time in unifying such a fragmented land. During the same years, Gian Mario Andreani (brother of Paolo Andreani) and the architect
Giocondo Albertolli succeeded in a memorable enterprise: they moved the
Anthony of Padua's chapel built in
Lugano, Switzerland, to Villa Sormani. In order to transport the chapel from Lugano to
Moncucco, Albertolli first disassembled it, then he rebuilt it near count Gian Mario's villa. After it had been dismantled, he had the pieces shipped over
Lake Lugano and then transported by land to
Como. The pieces travelled over ten kilometers through the
Naviglio Martesana arriving at the river port of
Mattalino Bridge, where they were unloaded near Count Andreani's property. The work took from 1815–16 until after 1832. Anthony of Padua's chapel acquired then its new designation, becoming the little church dedicated to
Saint Lucius (the so-called "
little temple of Moncucco"). on 9 December 1866, the new municipality of Brugherio was established unifying Cassina Baraggia, San Damiano, Bindellera, Cesena, Gelosa, San Paolo, Torazza, Occhiate and Increa. The territory of Moncucco was added to the new municipality in 1871. in 1886 the opening of
Canale Villoresi and, in recent decades, the birth of the first factories for the production of silk. In 1912, with the proclamation of
universal male suffrage, by
Giovanni Giolitti, the electoral base expanded greatly and it changed the political forces that were under the oligarchy. The years of World War I were administered by mayor Giovanni Santini and Brugherio was always stocked with food supplies, while in the period of the so-called
Biennio Rosso (1919-1920) took place violence between the
Socialists and the
Popular Catholics. The latter lost their absolute majority, due to the loosening of their trade union activities, and the last mayor elected at the polls, Marcello Gatti, had to manage the difficult transition from
Liberalism to
Fascism. From 1926 to 1943 the town was ruled by the
podestà Ercole Balconi. With
the fall of Mussolini, Brugherio was the scene of the trade union movements of workers at the
Pirelli plant in San Damiano and of
resistance movement against the
Nazism: this is why a street is named after the last
Partisan murdered in town, Luigi Teruzzi. After 1946, Brugherio was ruled by the newly formed
Christian Democracy. Under the governments of Pollastri, Meli and Giltri, Brugherio radically changed the features of its territory: new industrial villages were edified by
Falck and
Pirelli; social housing and new schools were built; the public library was founded in 1960 and it was placed within
Palazzo Ghirlanda-Silva; sewerage, electricity and natural gas were extended on the whole area. In those years Brugherio turned into an industrial town (the presence of the
Candy company was very important) and it was crowned with the title of
city on 27 January 1967,), to establish its headquarters there; middle school "Leonardo da Vinci" was built and the residential area of
Quartiere Ovest (West District) was created. In fact, during the
economic boom, many southern people emigrated to the outskirts of big industrial cities and the number of inhabitants increased significantly. In 1993 it was built the
church of San Carlo, in the West district, far from the parish church of
Saint Bartholomew. Between 1992 and 1994 the municipality purchased and restored the little but important
church of Saint Lucius. == Cityscape ==