La Flora It has a total of 9 victories in the
Palio di Legnano. It is located in the "Oltre Stazione" area (i.e. west of the
Domodossola–Milan railway), to the north-west of the city. Legend has it that the contrada owes its name to the joyful exultation of the women of the neighborhood after the
battle of Legnano. After the victory, with the passage of the
Lombard League, the contradaiole of La Flora would have thrown flowers at the feet of the soldiers, hence the name of the contrada. According to this tradition, the red color symbolizes the blood of Lombard soldiers while the blue one symbolizes military glory. On one occasion it appeared late and spread, on the lawns of the contrada, blue cornflowers and red poppies, whose flowers bloom in summer. Both explanations can be traced back to the Spanish rule over the
Duchy of Milan, during which Legnanello became a noble quarter inhabited by Spanish nobles. Red and yellow, in addition to the colors of Legnarello, are also the
Spanish national colors. The legend tells that the
hidalgo don Pedro de Torquemada, living in Legnarello, used to wear half-red and half-yellow clothes in combat. Despite the high visibility of the garments, his enemies never managed to hit him and so the Spanish nobleman decided to hoist a red flag with a yellow sun on his house, symbols that were then taken over by the Legnarello contrada. The historical fact is instead connected to Donna Consuelo of the Melzi D'Eril; the Spanish noblewoman died of plague in 1621, and as a legacy she established that in her home in Legnanello the yellow-red banners of the governor of
Córdoba, Spain, should have been kept. These signs then became the symbol of the Contrada Legnarello.
San Bernardino It has a total of 9 victories in the
Palio di Legnano. It is located in the area "Oltre Stazione" (that is to the west of the Domodossola-Milan railway), to the south-west of the city, it is one of the largest contrade. There are two legends that explain the colors of the contrada. The first tells of a
master-at-arms who wanted to sentence a girl to death for rejecting his love. This master-at-arms would have pardoned the young woman only if the bells of the little church of San Bernardino had resonated without human intervention. Immediately after the first swing shaken by the aggressor, the bells began to ring by themselves and this attracted the attention of some passing knights, who intervened by rescuing the girl. The second legend tells instead of an aggression suffered by a girl in the countryside of the contrada by a bear. At his request for help, the inhabitants made the bells of the church of San Bernardino ring. Their sound was heard by some passing knights, who saved the young woman. In both legends the tunics of the girls soiled by blood became the flag of the contrada, where the white of the dress indicates the purity of the girl, while the red of the blood her regality of mind.
San Domenico It has a total of 7 victories in the
Palio di Legnano. It is the only contrada that does not border on any other municipality, and it is the historical contrada that won the first edition of the Palio (1935). There are two legends that explain the colors of the contrada. The first tells of a dog that found two
tibiae in the fields of the contrada that belonged to warriors who had died in the battle of Legnano. The dog, after giving the bones to the inhabitants of the contrada, went with them, with a torch lit in the mouth, to a place where they could be buried honorably. These monasteries, at a certain point, merged into a single religious institute. The two convents were connected by a secret tunnel that was haunted by a ghost. This ghost, during the night, scares the inhabitants of the neighborhood with infernal noises caused by the creeping of its chains. The guardian father of the monastery, Fra' Bonino, decided to remedy the problem by awaiting the ghost at one of the two entrances to the tunnel. At a certain point, during the night, the ghost appeared, which explained to the friar that he was the Germanic soldier Rudolf Himmer, who was left buried by the battle of Legnano. The ghost told the friar that he would no longer disturb the sleep of the inhabitants of the neighborhood if the friar had given a proper burial to his bones, which were scattered in the tunnel. The friar granted the wish of the ghost but, not remembering the soldier's name, he placed on his grave a green flag and two white bones. This composition then became the emblem of the Contrada San Domenico. On the day of the patron saint, on November 5, a farmer began to contemplate the tree admiring its ability to withstand frost and snow. Thus the peasant expressed the desire to be able to resist life's difficulties in the same way. At that moment
Saint Magnus appeared, who offered to satisfy man's desire by giving him the strength, the recklessness and the power of a lion. The Saint ordered the farmer to kill a rabbit and advance on the ground, covered in snow, where the animal's blood had been spilled. The farmer carried out the orders and then Saint Magnus granted his dream turning it into a lion. Once the prodigy was completed, the Saint suddenly disappeared without satisfying the farmer who asked him to return as a man, thus punishing his pride. The white of the snow and the red of the blood of the rabbit became the symbol of the contrada. These colors, the tree and the lion were also included in the
coat of arms and
gonfalon of the city of Legnano. According to another legend, white and red are associated with the blood left on the snow by saints
Sebastian and
Roch, who had gone to Legnano to contemplate the
frescoes in the
basilica of San Magno. The first tells of a noble
vassal of
Charlemagne who was lost in the fields of San Martino while he was training with horses. The vassal, at a certain point, met a woodsman, to whom he asked the way to follow to find his way home; the woodcutter, after having indicated a cross-shaped cloud formation, told him that if he followed it he would find the right direction. The nobleman, to thank him, allowed the woodcutter to use the white cross in a blue field as a symbol of his family: subsequently the vassal had the emperor's ratification ratified. The white cross on a blue field then became the symbol of the contrada. A second legend tells of a young shepherd who lost himself in the countryside around the ancient church of San Martino, later replaced by the homonymous religious building. The little shepherd, not finding his way home, at one point began to cry and pleaded with God asking him for help. Suddenly a luminous cross appeared in the sky that showed him the way back home. According to these legends the blue of the emblem of the contrada is associated with the sky, while white is the divine color. The banner instead recalls the religious
iconography of
Saint Martin, who shows the saint in the act of cutting his cloak to give it to a poor man. Legend has it that once a year, in a February night, a yellow-skinned demon used to wander the streets of the neighborhood dressed in an old greenish tunic, with the intention of going to the church of Sant'Ambrogio to carry out thefts. The raids lasted until the pastor, tired of these disappearances, put a rosary crown in the lock of the entrance door: in this way the demon found his keys blocked and put his fingers to free the hole, but touching the sacred object deflated and died, leaving its yellowish skin and its green cloak on the churchyard. The following morning the faithful, going to church, found these remains and adopted these colors as symbols of the contrada. Another explanation, this time of an historical nature, comes from the discovery of the body of the Archbishop of Milan
Leone da Perego, who died in Legnano in 1257 in the homonymous palace, under the portico of the church of Sant'Ambrogio; this finding occurred in 1650 during the enlargement of the religious building. According to two mediaeval chroniclers, the body of Leone da Perego was buried in the church of San Salvatore in Legnano. Still according to the accounts of Agostino Pozzo, to find his treasure, which was believed buried in the church of Sant'Ambrogio and which was said to be composed of gold and bronze objects, he continued to dig, but in vain. After his discovery, the body of Leone da Perego disappeared without leaving a trace. Considering the historical event linked to the discovery of the archbishop's body, the meaning of yellow and green is connected, respectively, to the gold and bronze of the treasure of Leone da Perego. On the banner of the contrada is instead depicted the staff of St.
Ambrose. It is said that from this monastery, at some point, food began to disappear, and therefore the
abbot, Bernardo Paletta, decided to establish a guard service to control the pantry. The following morning the friar on guard, Fra' Camillo, saw a crow in the window come in such a black and shiny plumage that it looked bluish. The animal, at one point, stole bread and cheese from the pantry, and flew out the window. The friars followed the crow and saw the animal heading towards a group of three elders who were grouped around a white tablecloth. At this point the animal came down from the three and gave them food. To thank God for the miracle, the friars decided to build a shelter, the aforementioned St. Erasmus hospice. This shelter building was later dedicated to
Saint Erasmus because near the place where the elders consumed the meal there was a small chapel dedicated to this saint. For this reason the blue of the emblem of the contrada symbolizes heaven and charity, while white love and wisdom. The banner instead recalls the crow, its bluish plumage and the white tablecloth of the three elders. ==Notes==