Although the area was settled in ancient times, the origins of San Donato date back to the 7th century, when a
pieve was founded here by the army of
Grimoald I, Duke of Benevento. After a period under the Milanese family De Advocati, the town was a possession of the
archbishops of Milan until the 16th century. A series of abbeys were founded in the area by
Bernard of Clairvaux during the 11th century. Later
Frederick Barbarossa resided here after his destruction of Milan, while the
Visconti and the
Torriani fought here (1278) for the possession of the duchy of Milan. The
battle of Marignano was also fought nearby,
Francis I of France settled his headquarters here after the battle. Today San Donato is a modern industrial and services centre. It received the honorary title of city with a presidential decree on 30 December 1976. On 3 October 2021, a
private plane crashed into an empty building under renovation on San Donato Milanese after taking off from
Milan to go to
Olbia. The plane had 8 passengers, all of whom died. One of the deceased was
Dan Petrescu, a Romanian businessman and billionaire, one of the richest people in
Romania at the time and the owner of the plane. ==References==