Busto Arsizio

Comune di Busto Arsizio
Municipal coat of arms
Location of {{{name}}} in Italy
Country	Italy
Region	Lombardy
Province	Varese (VA)
Mayor	Gianluigi Farioli (since May 30, 2006)
Elevation	226 m (741 ft)
Area	30.27 km² (11.7 sq mi)
Population (as of January 1, 2009)
- Total	81,431
- Density	[n.a.]
Time zone	CET, UTC+1
Coordinates	45°36′N 08°50′E / 45.6°N 8.833°E / 45.6; 8.833
Gentilic	Bustocchi (for the people born in the city) or Bustesi (for the people not born in the city)
Dialing code	0331
Postal code	21052
Frazioni	Borsano, Sacconago
Patron	San Giovanni Battista
- Day	June 24
Website: [1]

Busto Arsizio (Lombard: Büsti Grandi) is a city in the region of Lombardy, in northern Italy, 25 km north of Milan in the province of Varese.

The economy of Busto Arsizio is mainly based on industry and commerce.

Shrine of Santa Maria di Piazza.

History

Despite repeated claims by Lega Nord and her local allies about a Celtic heritage, recent studies seem to show that the "bustocchi"'s descendants were Ligurians, called ‘wild’ by Pliny, ‘marauders and robbers’ by Livy and ‘unshaven and hairy’ by Pompeius Tragus. They were good at working iron and much sought after as mercenary soldiers. A very remote Ligurian influence is perceptible in the local dialect, Bustocco, slightly different from other Western Lombard varieties, according to local expert Luigi Giavini, author of a vocabulary.^[1]

Traditionally these first inhabitants used to set fire to woods made of old and young oaks and black hornbeams, which at that time, covered the whole Padan Plain. This slash-and-burn practice, known as "debbio" in Italian, aimed to create fields where grapevines or cereals such as foxtail, millet and rye were grown, or just to create open spaces where stone huts with thatched roofs were built. By doing this they created a bustum (burnt, in Latin), that is a new settlement which, in order to be distinguished from the other nearby settlements, was assigned a name: arsicium (again "burnt", or better "arid") for Busto Arsizio, whose name is actually a tautology; carulfì for nearby Busto Garolfo, cava for Busto Cava, later Buscate.

The slow increase in population was helped without doubt by the Gauls from the Insubri tribe, a Celtic population who arrived in successive waves by crossing the Alps about 500 years before Christ. It is said that they defeated the Etruscans, who by then controlled the area, leaving some geographical names behind (Arno creek -not to be confused with Florence's river - Castronno, Caronno, Biandronno, etc.)

Busto Arsizio's site was not chosen randomly: in fact, the settlement was created on an area on the route from Milan to Lake Maggiore (called "Milan’s road", an alternative route to the existent Sempione), part of which, before the creation of the Naviglio Grande, made use of the navigational water of the Ticino river.

However, nothing is sure about Busto Arsizio's past till the 10th century, when the town is first hinted at in documents, already with its present name: loco Busti qui dicitur Arsizio. A part of the powerful Contado of the Seprio, in 1176 its citizens are likely to have taken part (on both sides) to the famous Battle of Legnano, actually fought between Busto's frazione of Borsano and nearby Villa Cortese, when Frederick Barbarossa was defeated by the Communal militia of the Lombard League. From the 13th century the town became renowned for its production of textiles. Even its feudalization in later centuries under several lords, vassals of the masters of Milan, did not stop its slow but constant growth; nor did the plague, which hit hard in 1630, traditionally being stopped by the Virgin Mary after the bustocchi, always a pious Catholic flock, prayed for respite from the deadly epidemic.

By the half of the 19th century modern industry began to take over strongly: in a few decades Busto Arsizio became the so-called "Manchester of Italy". In 1864 it was granted city privileges by king Victor Emmanuel II of Italy. The city kept on growing for more than a century, absorbing the nearby Comuni of Borsano and Sacconago in 1927 on a major administrative reform implemented by the Fascist regime, and was only marginally damaged even by World War II (a single Allied airdropped bomb is said to have hit the train station). This respite was given, actually, by the fact that the town hosted the important Allied liaison mission with the partisans, the Chrysler mission, led by Lt. Aldo Icardi, later famous for his involvement in the Holohan Murder Case. During the conflict Busto Arsizio was a major industrial center of war production, and the occupying Germans moved there the Italian national radio. The Italian resistance movement resorted preferably to strikes and sabotage than to overt guerrilla, since those willing to fght mostly took to the Ossola mountains, but strengthened in time, suffering grievous losses to arrests, tortures and deportation to the Nazi lager system. The names of Mauthausen-Gusen and Flossenburg concentration and extermination camps are sadly known to the bustocchi, as dozens of their fellow citizens died there. When, on 25 April 1945, the partisans took over, Busto Arsizio thus gave voice to the first free radio channel in northern Italy since the advent of Fascism.

After the war, the city turned in time increasingly on the right of the political spectrum, as its bigger industries in the Sixties and Seventies decayed, to be replaced by many familiar small enterprises and a new service-based economy. Today the town represents a major stronghold for both Forza Italia and Lega Nord right-wing political parties.

Paintings in St. John the Baptist church.

Church of Saint Michael Archangel.

Main sights

Church of Saint John the Baptist

The church of Saint John the Baptist, in the city center, is the most important church in Busto Arsizio. It was built between 1609 and 1635, but the bell tower is older (between 1400 and 1418). The facade, finished in 1701 by Domenico Valmagini, have a lot of statues and decorations. In the interior are numerous of paintings by Daniele Crespi, a celebrated painter born at Busto Arsizio, such as Cristo morto con San Domenico.

The square in front of this church was built over the ancient cemetery.

Shrine of Santa Maria di Piazza

The most remarkable building of the Renaissance period, indeed the only remaining, is the shrine of Santa Maria di Piazza ("Saint Mary of the Square"), also called shrine of the Beata Vergine dell'Aiuto ("Blessed Virgin of the Help"). The building stends in the city centre. It was built between 1515 and 1522. The village of Crespi d'Adda is home a more little copy of the shrine.

Church of Saint Michael Archangel

The third biggest church in the city is the Church of Saint Michael Archangel (San Michele Arcangelo). Its bell tower, built in the 10th century, is the oldest building in Busto Arsizio; originally it was part of a Lombard fortification. The present church was built from the architect Francesco Maria Ricchino. In the church there are some relics and, the most important is the body of San Felice Martire.

An example of the Giöbia.

Traditional festivals

The saints patron of the city are Saint John the Baptist and Saint Michael Archangel, whose feast are traditionally celebrated on 24 June and 29 September.

In recent times the town council has give also civic relevance to celebrations that up to now were almost completely of a religious kind. During winter it is an established tradition since time immemorial the burning of the Giöbia (alternative spelling: Giöeubia), a (usually) female puppet, symbolizing the "chasing" out of winter and its troubles, and on a more sinister note, the change from a matriarchal to a patriarchal society in ancient times. Time ago each family prepared its simple puppet to be burnt, and then its ashes were dispersed to fertilize the fields as good omen^[2]. Now the celebration is more organized and publicly supported, but still heartily felt by the populace.

Sport

Stadium "Carlo Speroni", the home ground of Pro Patria.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Busto Arsizio

Busto Arsizio is the host for the Federazione Italiana Sport Croquet, the lawns being located at the "Cascina del Lupo" Sporting Centre just outside the town.

Pro Patria Calcio football club plays in Busto Arsizio.

Pro Patria Bustese Atletica is the athletic society.

Yamamay Busto Arsizio Volley is the main volleyball society of the city and plays in the first national division.

References

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