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94-399: Defended by selected troops, paved with the colors of the municipality, it was generally pulled by oxen and carried an altar , a bell (called martinella ), the heraldic signs of the city and a mast surmounted by a Christian cross . In peace time it was kept in the main church of the city to which it belonged. In battle the carroccio was surrounded by the bravest warriors in the army as

188-455: A palatificula civilization . According to some authors, part of these populations, following a demographic increase, migrated south settling along the Valle Olona . Further downstream, between 1926 and 1928, near the border between Castellanza and Legnano , an artifact dating back to a period between 3400 BC and the 2200 BC came to light It is a small fragment of a bell-shaped vase that

282-580: A vast empire , and therefore the sending of the carroccio to the city by the emperor had a strong symbolic meaning. In 1237 however, the Lega Lombarda lost the carroccio in battle because of the muddy roads. In 1275, it was the carroccio of the Bolognese (who were Guelphs ) to be captured in the battle of San Procolo by the Forlivese, who were instead Ghibellines , and to be brought in triumph to Forlì . In

376-561: A fountain in Misano Olona , a few kilometers upstream. Taking the old course and its name, the southern Olona flows into the Po at San Zenone al Po. The two Olona do not have an autonomous hydrography: at Rozzano, from the Lambro Meridionale, a branch take off towards the south-west, gaining vigor thanks to the water supply provided by springs and artificial canals. This stream then flows into

470-567: A militia aligned toward a defence of the Church. Its diffusion extended to other Lombard cities, but this cannot be explained as a pure reproduction of the Milanese carroccio. Moreover, the descendants of the Arimannia, still at the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries had maintained, in the medieval society of northern Italy, a certain autonomy and were recognizable for various specific prerogatives, although

564-617: A ship's mast. The carroccio of the Lombard League was captured by the imperials in 1237 during the battle of Cortenuova , donated to Pope Gregory IX by the emperor Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor , and transported to the Palazzo Senatorio in Rome in what is still called the Sala del carroccio ("Room of carroccio"), where the commemorative inscription of the gift is kept made by the emperor to

658-603: A short distance: having reached the modern Lucernate at the Bozzente stream, the designers widened their bed to accommodate a greater water flow. As the final destination of the new Olona route, the moat of Milan's Roman walls was chosen, where it poured its water into the Canale Vetra (name given by the ancient Romans to the final stretch of the Nirone natural bed) at the height of the modern and homonymous piazza : to achieve this goal,

752-652: Is 71 km (44 mi) long and has a drainage basin of 1,038 km (401 sq mi). The drainage basin of the Olona extends over part of the province of Varese , the Metropolitan City of Milan and, to a lesser extent, province of Como , also affecting part of Switzerland . A small part of the Gaggiolo basin, its tributary, in fact belongs to the Canton Ticino . With its 1,038 km (401 sq mi),

846-773: Is developed entirely in Lombardy . The river born at 548 meters above sea level in the Fornaci della Riana locality at the Rasa of Varese , at the Sacro Monte di Varese , within the Campo dei Fiori Regional Park . After crossing the Valle Olona and the Alto Milanese , the Olona reaches Rho where it pours part of its water into the Canale Scolmatore Nord Ovest . After passing Pero ,

940-487: The Ravenna Cosmography ). Instead, as far as local toponyms are concerned, it was assumed that Lonate Pozzolo and Lonate Ceppino derive from "Olona" (from "Olona" to "Lonate"). Since ancient times, the inhabitants of the Valle Olona lived mainly away from the river, on higher ground that certainly would not have been hit by seasonal floods . From the archaeological findings found, it can be deduced that

1034-624: The Battle of the Standard in 1138, employed by the English, and at the Battle of Sirmium in 1167, employed by the Hungarians. In addition, the carroccio was also used in the Battle of Bouvines in 1214. In addition to the symbolic value, the carroccio had an important military tactical function . It began to gain military value, especially after the battle of Legnano, where, between the first times in history,

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1128-521: The Canzone di Legnano and Canzone del carroccio , the splendors of medieval Italian comunes , a concept that was later taken up also by the writings of Gabriele D'Annunzio . In festivals and historical re-enactments, very often, the pivotal figure is represented by the carroccio: The political party of the Lega Nord is historically known as il carroccio , in reference to the Battle of Legnano to which

1222-700: The La Tène culture and which were brought to light along the lower Valle Olona. Even after the ancient Roman conquest, it took some time for the Romanization of the Valle Olona to take place; during this phase, a Celts -Roman cultural dualism coexisted. The complete Romanization of the Valle Olona occurred during the 1st century BC; after this phase, along the banks of the river, the findings of archaeological finds became more and more frequent. This abundance of furnishings continued for another two centuries, that is, until

1316-459: The Lambro Meridionale . Until the entry into operation of the water purification system of Milan (2005), the Lambro Meridionale was a drain collector which collected the results of the western part of the city sewerage system. Subsequently, these sewage were diverted to the purifiers of San Rocco and Nosedo. From the same unloader, the Lambro Meridionale has its "clean source". The Olona

1410-474: The Palio di Legnano . The specialis magister , who took care of the maintenance of the carroccio, was paid by the municipality, for his service, 8 soldi a day. In addition to checking the functionality of the wagon, the specialis magister participated in the war actions in which the carroccio was involved by dressing armor and carrying a sword . On the carroccio, a chaplain was also present, whose function

1504-475: The Po Valley . Once there was also another natural branch which was indicated by the name of Olonella and which crossed Legnano passing behind the basilica of San Magno . The natural island that was formed by the two branches of the river was known as "Archbishop Braida". This legnanese branch was buried in the first part of the 20th century. After crossing San Lorenzo ( fraction of Parabiago ) and Nerviano ,

1598-728: The Quadronna , the Selvagna , the Mornaga , the Riale delle Selve and the Tenore . In Gorla Minore the river branches off into the Olonella , which joins the main riverbed after 1200 m. In this stretch, many artificial canals are born in the service of agriculture and of the industries that re-enter the Olona before Castellanza . After passing Castellanza, the waterway leaves the Valle Olona and heads towards

1692-406: The archbishop of Milan Theodorus II , "Aurona" (or "Orona"). In the latter case, the opposite has also been hypothesized, namely that the name of the monastery derives from the name of the river. Other toponyms that were used during the history to refer to the Olona are Ollona (appeared in a document dated 737 AD ), Oleunda (1033), Orona (mid-16th century) and Olonna (reported in 1688 on

1786-618: The battle of the Malamorte . Inside the Siena Cathedral , on the other hand, two large 10–15 m spars are preserved, which traditionally refers to the carroccio, victorious from the battle of Montaperti . In Cremona, at the civic museum, there is a wooden platform that is thought to have belonged to the cart of the wagon taken from the Milanese in 1213 in Castelleone . Since there are very few surviving remains from medieval times, information on

1880-597: The cattle station of the railways that stood there was built the Solari Park. The remaining part of the Darsena branch, and the canalized section along the ring road, were instead covered between 1950 and 1970. With the passing of the years, and with the increasing pollution of the river, the sluice of piazza Tripoli was not maneuvered only to divert the flow of water during the dry of the Navigli: at first it considerably reduced

1974-573: The homonymy with another Olona, who was born in Bornasco and flows into the Po after having crossed the Province of Pavia . This second Olona, in turn, is designated as "inferior" or "southern". The homonymy is not of imitative or etymological origin, but it is due to the fact that originally it was two trunks of the same river, diverted by the ancient Romans in its upper stretch towards Milan to bring water to

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2068-585: The "martinell" was attached to the door of the Church of Santa Maria in the Mercato Nuovo in Florence and rung to warn both citizens and enemies. In times of peace, the carroccio was in the keeping of a great family which had distinguished itself by signal services to the republic. The Florentine carroccio was captured by the Ghibelline forces of Castruccio Castracani in the 1325 Battle of Altopascio , after which it

2162-513: The 13th century BC were identified that are referable to the recent Bronze Age The culture of Canegrate, which has an importance that goes beyond local boundaries, developed up to the Iron Age . The chronologically later furnishings, two bronze spearheads linked to the archaic Golasecca culture and always found in Legnano, date back to between the 9th and 8th centuries BC (early Iron Age). Along

2256-535: The 14th century. Medieval documents show the carroccio called carochium , carozulum , carrocerum or carrocelum , while in the Milanese dialect of the time it was probably called caròcc or caròz . The carroccio was introduced by Heribert (Ariberto) for use as the military insignia of Milan. His many supporters adopted and spread the use of the insignia. It was soon adopted in Lombardy, Tuscany and Rome where it signified

2350-542: The Darsena was maintained. The detour to the latter took place in Piazza Tripoli : here there was a lock that diverted the river by Via Roncaglia , starting what was called the "Darsena branch". In the two dry periods of the Navigli annual, the sluice was maneuvered in such a way as to completely close the Darsena branch causing the entire flow of the Olona water to flow into Lambro Meridionale. The Lambro Meridionale, which at

2444-678: The Lega Nord symbolism refers. Ox">oxen The requested page title contains unsupported characters : ">". Return to Main Page . Olona The Olona ( Olona in Italian ; Ulona , Urona or Uòna in Western Lombard ) is an Italian river belonging to the Po Basin , 71 kilometres (44 mi) long, that runs through the Province of Varese and Metropolitan City of Milan whose course

2538-514: The Lombard domination had ended after a few centuries. Documents of 1158 and 1201 confirm the presence of the Milanese carroccio, in peacetime, in the church of San Giorgio al Palazzo , while others are still inside the Palazzo della Ragione . The first document cited contains information on the need to make an iron shield to be placed in the choir of the church, which was located near the carroccio, with

2632-432: The Lombard women rivals in the beauty of the girl they use a carroccio and other chariots to "fight" the growing fame of the girl. Giacomo da Lentini , an imperial official of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor , dealt with the carroccio in the song Ben m'è venuto , which is a poetic piece of love inspired by the poems of the troubadours and probably composed before the battle of Cortenuova (between 1233 and 1237). Since

2726-503: The Olona drainage basin occupies 5% of the Lombardy area and hosts approximately 1,000,000 inhabitants (which corresponds to around 10% of the residents in the region). The catchment area of Olona instead measures 370 km². Any hydrographic engineers describe the Olona and the Lambro Meridionale as a single stream that flows into the Lambro at Sant'Angelo Lodigiano and which has an overall length of 121 km (75 mi). One of

2820-598: The Olona river receives its two main tributaries, the Bozzente and the Lura , at Rho . In Rho there is also the "deviator of the Olona", completed in the 1980s, which flows into Lambro Meridionale . This work has always been a source of controversy: on the one hand it has not avoided all the floods as it was designed and, on the other hand, it carries polluted water towards the Ticino . In November 2002, in particular climatic conditions,

2914-457: The Olona were also discovered other finds that belong to the Golasecca culture; these furnishings, which are more recent than those previously mentioned, date back to the 6th-5th century BC. The archaeological findings found along the Olona then become more and more frequent as they approach the ancient Roman conquest of the Po valley . Among them, numerous finds stand out which are connected to

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3008-534: The Olona) or of the Legnanese quarter of "Costa di San Giorgio", since in another part of the neighbouring areas it is not possible to identify another depression with the characteristics suitable for its defence. Considering the last hypothesis, the final clash could also have taken place on part of the territory now belonging to the contrade of Sant'Ambrogio and San Magno (between the quartier of "Costa di San Giorgio" and

3102-457: The Olona, a steep slope was later included in the Castello park) and to the municipality of San Giorgio su Legnano . The carroccio was afterwards adopted by other cities and first appears, after Legnano, on a Florentine battlefield in 1228. The Florentine carroccio was usually followed by a smaller cart bearing the "martinella", a bell to ring out military signals. When war was regarded as likely,

3196-604: The Olona, the Seveso , the spillway and the Ticino overflowed. From Lucernate (fraction of Rho) onwards the river no longer flows into the natural riverbed, but follows the path deviated by the ancient Romans towards the Bozzente. Entering Pero , after an initial stretch still outdoors, the Olona begins to flow under the road surface and reaches Milan by first crossing the Gallaratese , Lampugnano and QT8 districts, where it collects

3290-505: The Roman people. The inscription reads: Receive, oh Rome, the chariot, a gift of Emperor Frederick II, perennial honor of the city. Captured in the defeat of Milan, it comes as a glorious prey to announce the triumphs of Caesar. It will be held as shame to the enemy, sent here for the glory of the City, the love of Rome sent it Rome, in addition to being the seat of the papacy , was also the capital of

3384-492: The Valle Olona connecting Milan to the northwest of Lombardy . The Olona river maintained its strategic importance for another reason over the centuries: the river was a precious source of provisioning due to the presence, along its course, of numerous water mills . The latter continued to be strategic even in the following centuries thanks to their use for agricultural purposes. In fact, the ground wheat in these mills provided food for tens of thousands of inhabitants. In 1176

3478-427: The Valle Olona was - already in antiquity - a significant communication route. The water of the Olona have been used for centuries by the local population to irrigate the fields , for fishing , for the breeding of livestock , to move the wheels of water mills and, with the industrialization of its banks, to operate the hydraulic turbines serving the establishments. The oldest prehistoric finds found in

3572-581: The Verbanus Lacus ( Lake Maggiore ), and from here to the Simplon Pass (lat. Summo Plano ). The stretch of river that followed this road was channeled: there are those who hypothesize that it was this work that promoted the deviation of the Olona towards Milan. The road built by the ancient Romans along the river kept its strategic importance even in the Middle Ages . This transit route always came from

3666-496: The ancient Romans extended and enlarged the Vetra canal towards the aforementioned Pudiga natural meander so as to also collect the Olona water. With the deviation of the Olona towards the wall of the city, the water continuity of the ancient bed of the Pudiga disappeared, whose southern section (the future "Lambro Meridionale") was intercepted remaining devoid of clean water, which came from

3760-400: The ancient natural beds of two streams , Bozzente and Pudiga . Before the deviation of the Olona towards Milan the Pudiga stream, after having lapped on the western side of the city, continued south following its natural bed, corresponding to what is now called Lambro Meridionale , which ended its course, like the ancient Pudiga, in the Lambro near Sant'Angelo Lodigiano . Originally, at

3854-521: The areas around the natural Olona riverbed are bos primigenius bones dating back to the Würm glaciation . Unearthed in Legnano in the locality of Costa San Giorgio, they are kept in the Museo civico Guido Sutermeister . As for the presence of man , the oldest finds discovered around the river have been found in the area of the springs . The Lake Varese was in fact frequented, between 4300 BC and 800 BC, from

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3948-517: The avenues of the ring road bypass. The path under the ring road, which was designed for the first time on the General Plan of Milan in 1884 (the so-called Piano Beruto ), was channeled in the first two decades of the 20th century and covered in a period from 1950 to 1970. At the exit from this covered stretch, after passing under the Naviglio Grande , the Olona ends its course flowing into

4042-463: The banks of the river were theater of the decisive phases of the battle of Legnano . The Carroccio , escorted by hundreds of knights, was placed along an escarpment flanking the Olona with the aim of having a natural defense on at least one side. The decision to place the Carroccio in Legnano was not fortuitous. At the time the village of Milan represented, for those coming from the north, the gateway to

4136-577: The branch of Valganna is increased by four torrents (the Margorabbia, Valfredda, Valpissavacca and Pedana della Madonna). The Valganna branch also gives rise to the Fonteviva lake, dedicated to sport fishing , and to the Valganna waterfalls , which in winter, due to the harsh climate, are often frozen. They are found in the municipality of Induno Olona and are close to the famous and homonymous caves . On

4230-414: The carroccio guard, and it served both as a rallying point and as the palladium of the city's honour; its capture by the enemy was regarded as an irretrievable defeat and humiliation. The carroccio, which has Lombard origins, was initially used by Arimannia as a war chariot. Its function became purely symbolic, with the addition of the cross, of the city signs, of the altar and with its preservation in

4324-589: The carroccio is a signum , in modern times it has become a symbol of ideas, hopes and different meanings, very often as anti- tyrannical propaganda during the period of the Signorias , up to Romanticism and the Risorgimento , where it became the symbol of the struggle against the foreign occupation. Important promoters of these ideas were Massimo d'Azeglio , Giovanni Berchet , Amos Cassioli , Francesco Hayez . Giosuè Carducci and Giovanni Pascoli recalled, with

4418-424: The carroccio is present in a fresco by Stradanus dedicated to the House of Medici , which depicts Piazza della Signoria during the feast of John the Baptist . It is therefore probable that three types of carroccio existed. The first "classic" on the Milanese model, the Tuscan one with two flagpoles (with the carroccio of Florence that presented a bell), and the one widespread in Flanders and Germany , which

4512-426: The carroccio was carried out by the "martinella", while the trumpeters imparted the orders and, very often, incited the troop to the combat. In 2000, the original "martinella" of the Battle of Legnano was identified. It was kept on the bell tower of the hermitage of Sant'Alberto di Butrio of Ponte Nizza , in the province of Pavia . In the same year of the discovery, it was paraded during the historical procession of

4606-402: The carroccio was located on the edge of a steep slope flanking the river Olona , so that the imperial cavalry , whose arrival was planned by Castellanza along the river, would have been forced to attack the centre of the army of the Lombard League going up the escarpment. This decision later proved to be strategically incorrect, given that Frederick Barbarossa came instead from Borsano, or from

4700-418: The carroccio, in addition to being considered the most coveted in war, was kept in cathedrals, which were the most important churches of the municipalities, and was the protagonist, always in times of peace, of the most important ceremonies and events that took place in the cities. In addition to the war purpose, the carroccio had other functions, which could also be carried out in times of peace. The leaders of

4794-411: The city of Mediolanum then, from the 12th century, in the defensive moat around the medieval walls and later (1603) in the Darsena of Porta Ticinese . In particular Olona river, during the Middle Ages , flowed into the moat of medieval defensive walls of the city in correspondence of the modern Piazza della Resistenza Partigiana , while in ancient Roman times it continued the city route reaching

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4888-534: The city. The symbolic value of the carroccio, in this historical context, was therefore less. Moreover, from a logistical point of view , the carroccio, being a very slow vehicle drawn by oxen, was not very mobile, and often created obstacles to the actions of war, which were becoming faster and faster. For these reasons, the carroccio, in the 14th century, went inexorably towards a phase of decline which then led to its disappearance from battlefields. Similar cart-mounted standards were also found elsewhere in Europe, at

4982-434: The clash of Legnano did the cavalry begin to change strategy, attacking the infantry in defence of the carroccio in conspicuous organized forces, thus succeeding in breaking its resistance. This change in war strategy also contributed to the decline and disappearance of the carroccio from battlefields. In Brescia , there is a cross that probably belonged to the flagpole of the carroccio from Cremona , conquered in 1191 at

5076-445: The crisis of the 3rd century AD , when a dramatic decline occurred. In Roman times, the shores of the Olona assumed significant importance due to their strategic position with respect to the communication routes between the Po valley and the Alps . In the 1st century AD, along the route drawn by the course of the river, an ancient Roman road was built, the via Severiana Augusta , which connected Mediolanum (modern Milan ) with

5170-411: The derivation of the Canale Ticinello , we arrive then a little further south, in the territory of Lacchiarella , where the Colombana and Carona irrigation channels bring water to the irrigation network giving rise to the Roggione . The Roggione, when at the Settimo di Bornasco receives the Olonetta canal, changes its name to lower or Olona . The Olonetta, together with the Misana canal, comes from

5264-415: The description of Bonvesin da la Riva , weighed as much as four men and was usually supported by ropes (certainly that of Milan). In the Chigi codex , the Florentine carroccio presents two flagpoles and the flag, which very often was not fixed to a sidebar, was in precious fabric usually divided into two halved colours, or it was decorated with a cross motif. Unlike in Northern Europe , the representation of

5358-414: The famous clash of Legnano. Today it is difficult to establish precisely the exact location of this carroccio to the current topography of Legnano. One of the chronicles of the clash, the Cologne Annals , contain important information: The Lombards, ready to win or die on the field, placed their army inside a large pit, so that when the battle was in full swing, no one could escape. This would suggest that

5452-413: The flow of the Darsena branch and, at the end of the 1980s, it was resetted for "hydrogeological risk and danger of pollution" of the Darsena and the water that came out for irrigation or navigation purposes. There are three hypotheses on the origin of the toponym Olona . The first supposes that the name of the river is connected to the Celtic root Ol- , which means "large", "valid" in reference to

5546-499: The height of the inhabited center of Milan, the Pudiga made a wide bend towards the east, which led it to touch the city at the height of the modern Piazza Vetra , near the natural and ancient bed of the Nirone stream, and then bend towards the south following the bed of the modern Lambro Meridionale. Originally, on its hydrographic left, the Pudiga, in place of the Olona, received the Bozzente stream. The Bozzente originally had in fact an autonomous natural bed that led him to collect

5640-428: The infantry, which was gathered around the carroccio, held the chivalry head. Until then, the latter was in fact considered clearly superior to soldiers on foot. Since the infantry gathered around the carroccio, the latter, besides having a strong symbolic value, therefore had an important tactical function. If the carroccio was ever captured, for the municipal militias, defeat was almost certain. Also, for this reason,

5734-442: The inhabited centers located on the hills overlooking the river bed, the so-called pianalti . The slopes are mostly covered with woods , while in the valley bottom there are cultivated areas, meadows and heaths . The main tributary on Olona in the province of Varese is the Bevera ; other important tributaries of this stretch of the river are the Vellone , the Gaggiolo (also called Rio Lanza , Ranza , Anza or Clivio ),

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5828-503: The legend, during the fight, three doves , out of the burials of the saints Sisinnio, Martirio and Alessandro at the basilica of San Simpliciano in Milan, rested on the carroccio causing the flight of Frederick Barbarossa . Instead, according to the real historical facts, the municipal infantry arranged a decisive resistance around the carroccio which allowed the remaining part of the Lombard League army led by Guido da Landriano , to arrive from Milan and defeat Frederick Barbarossa in

5922-404: The lighting of a votive fire fed by a pound of oil. The 1201 document contains similar information in that the archbishop of the San Giorgio al Palazzo church in Milan should have lighted votive lamps around the carroccio. In 1159 the municipal troops of Brescia conquered the carroccio of the Cremona area during a battle. The cart was then carried in triumph between the streets of Brescia and

6016-400: The main church of the city between 1037 and 1039 due to the Archbishop of Milan Aribert 's use in one of the sieges that Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor did on several occasions in Milan. The carroccio therefore, from a military means, became a purely political instrument. From Milan its use spread in many municipalities of northern Italy , in Tuscany and outside Italy, until the decline in

6110-473: The main source, the river also flows from five other small springs, two in Val di Rasa and three in Valganna ; these springs give rise to two branches joining downstream from Bregazzana ( fraction of Varese). The branch that is born to the west, in Val di Rasa, is the most important; the two springs that originate this waterway are located at the Varrò pass (between Monte Legnone and Monte Pizzella ) and on Monte Chiusarella . The main source, and

6204-465: The mid-13th century the carroccio di Cremona was instead captured in battle by the municipal militias of Parma . Accounts of the carroccio will be found in most histories of the Italian republics. The decline of the carroccio occurred due to the evolution of war tactics. When larger and more manoeuvrable armies began to appear, the municipal infantry were replaced by soldiers of "ventura", who, being mercenaries , lacked emotional ties and belonging to

6298-401: The moat of the defensive walls of the city. The principal source of the Olona is in the Fornaci della Riana locality, at the Rasa of Varese , part of the homonymous provincial capital , at the Sacro Monte di Varese , within the Campo dei Fiori regional park. The Fornaci della Riana owe their name to some ancient limestone furnaces that remained active until 1972. In addition to

6392-417: The modern Piazza Vetra , where it poured its water into the moat of Roman walls thanks to the homonymous canal, the Canale Vetra . The Cerchia dei Navigli then originated from the medieval moat of walls, while the two branches of the Roman moat became the Grande Sevese and the Piccolo Sevese , two canals still existing today in the Milan underground. The Milanese stretch of the Olona corresponds to

6486-421: The most polluted rivers in Italy. The valley carved by the river, thanks to the system of water wheels that exploited the driving force originated by the water, was one of the cradles of Italian industrialization . The Olona river consortium (it. Consorzio del fiume Olona ), that is founded in 1606, is the oldest irrigation consortium in Italy. The river is sometimes also referred to as "northern Olona" for

6580-456: The most important studies on hydrography of Milan was carried out by engineer Felice Poggi. In 1911 Poggi affirmed that the two Olona, the one that flows into the Lambro Meridionale and the stream that flows into the Po at San Zenone al Po , constituted until the first years of the Common Era a single river that had a total length of 120 km (75 mi). This hypothesis has also been confirmed by subsequent studies. The place where

6674-401: The municipalities, on the carroccio, could make important decisions concerning the city, while the judges could use it as a mobile tribunal to issue their sentences . The Lombard Lega infantry, during the battle of Legnano, managed to resist the various attacks perpetrated by the imperial cavalry due to the tactics of the latter, which foresaw assaults on small disorganized groups. Only after

6768-561: The neighboring towns of Cesano Boscone, Corsico and Trezzano sul Naviglio, all three of which rise on the Naviglio Grande , it is possible to identify two waterways that could flow - towards the south - into the ancient natural riverbed of the Olona to Binasco : at Trezzano sul Naviglio and Cesano Boscone would be the Belgioioso canal, while in Corsico would be the Vecchia roggia. From Binasco, with

6862-543: The north, thus becoming in a sewer collector. Until 1704 the river had only one terminal arm, while on a map of 1722 it is reported that the Olona forked into two almost parallel branches that met before entering Darsena of Milan: the Olona Nuova (en. "New Olona"), that is the northern one that later will be called roggia Molinara , and the Olona Vecchia (en. "Old Olona"), that it was the southern one. The Molinara canal

6956-551: The one located at the Varrò pass, join upstream from the inhabited area of the Rasa di Varese, while the spring that flows from Monte Chiusarella flows into the Olona downstream. The branch of the Valganna, which is located to the east, was born instead south of Monte Martica . The branch of the Rasa is fed by seven small tributaries (more precisely, the torrents Legnone, Grassi, Boccaccia, Brasché, Pissabò, Valle del Forno and Sesnini), while

7050-471: The opposite side, which forced the municipal troops to resist around the carroccio with the escape road blocked by the Olona. Considering the evolution of the clash, this could mean that the crucial phases in defence of the carroccio had been fought on the territory of the San Martino contrada (more precisely, near the 15th-century church of the same name, which in fact dominates a slope that descends towards

7144-405: The patron saint did not appear on Italian wagons, where it was often depicted as decoration of the front body. The tow of the carroccio was usually executed by oxen or — very rarely — by horses. The use of the bell (the "martinella") is still controversial. It is not clear whether he was directly on the carroccio or else he followed on another vehicle. The function of recall of the soldiers around

7238-419: The result of stories by non-ocular chroniclers, being the authors of the 14th and 15th centuries, therefore of an era where the presence of the carroccio in everyday life had by then disappeared. The first representation shows only two movable flagpoles, one with the help of the other, while in the second image, where there is a four-wheeled cart with a flag, the subject is shown in more detail. The same image of

7332-512: The river enters in Milan , where, at the exit of its underground route, it flows into the Lambro Meridionale , that flows into the Lambro at Sant'Angelo Lodigiano , in the quartier of San Cristoforo ending its course. Along the way, the water system formed by the Olona and the Lambro Meridionale crosses or laps 45 towns receiving the water of 19 tributaries . The Olona is known for the waterfalls and caves of Valganna and for having been one of

7426-586: The river was diverted to Milan by the ancient Romans is Lucernate, a fraction of Rho . From here, to find the ancient bed of the Olona following the minimum undulations and the very small altimetric variations of the terrain, we arrive at Cascina Olona (a locality of Settimo Milanese ; the toponym is indicative), in Baggio and in Corsico , with a possible variant that from Settimo Milanese would lead to Muggiano and Trezzano sul Naviglio (or Cesano Boscone ). In

7520-414: The shape of the carroccio is fragmentary. Alessandro Visconti, in a book from 1945, referring to the chronicler Arnulf of Milan , reports this description: The sign that was to precede the fighters was like this: a tall antenna, like a ship's mast, planted in a sturdy wagon rose up high, bringing to the top a golden knob with two flaps of white hanging linen. In the midst of that antenna the venerable Cross

7614-413: The southern Olona. The reconnection of the two Olona is being planned with the construction of an artificial riverbed that would resume the ancient course of the river. Until ancient Roman times, at La Maddalena , today's quartier of Milan, the Olona was diverted towards the city with the aim of bringing water to it: in ancient Roman times it flowed into the moat of the republican defensive walls of

7708-548: The time was a veritable sewer collector, was also known as "Lambro Merdario" (en. "Shiter Lambro"). The new channeled route, which was also envisaged by the Beruto Plan of 1884, the first regulatory plan of Milan, did not come into operation until the early 1930s. The first covering carried out in Milan on the course of the Olona occurred in 1935 on part of the Darsena branch (from Via Valparaiso to Viale Coni Zugna ), when instead of

7802-431: The use of its water. The second conjecture hypothesizes that the name derives from the ancient Greek "oros" (ὄρος), which means "relief", "mountain". The last hypothesis supposes instead that the toponym of the water course is connected to a Milanese monastery founded in the 8th century that was known as Aurona . The latter name perhaps derives, in turn, from the name of the founder of the convent, as well as sister of

7896-487: The water of the Lura stream and the Merlata stream and then flow into the Pudiga. As already mentioned, it was the ancient Romans who diverted the Olona to Lucernate, a quartier of Rho, in the bed of Bozzente and then to the Pudiga riverbed. The Milanese stretch of the Olona therefore corresponds to the ancient natural beds of Bozzente and Pudiga. The new artificial riverbed of the Olona was then excavated from scratch only for

7990-585: The water of the Merlata river (also called Fugone ), to then skirt the southern slope of Monte Stella . Once in Piazza Stuparich it receives the confluence of the Pudiga (known as Mussa in his Milanese section). Merlata and Pudiga are the water collectors that come from the area north of Milan, the so-called "groane". The Olona then runs along the Lampugnano and San Siro districts, and then continues under

8084-418: The waterfalls, which were artificially created at the beginning of the 20th century to improve water withdrawal, one can admire the phenomenon of travertine surfacing. After the initial stretch, the river begins to travel the valley of the same name, the Valle Olona . This valley originated from the Olona and the retreat of the glaciers during the last ice age ; it looks like a valley deeply engraved with

8178-730: Was a simple cart with a central flagpole. From the description, made by Salimbene di Adam , of the dismantling of the one captured by the Parmesans to the Cremonese during the Battle of Parma in 1248, it can be deduced that there were five parts of the carroccio: four wheels, a platform, the flagpole, the flag and various decorations. The wheels were very large, and were usually painted red in Milan and Florence, white in Parma, and in precious colours not specified in Siena and Padua . The flagpole, according to

8272-435: Was displayed by the victors in a triumph held in the streets of Lucca . The carro della guerra of Milan was described in detail in 1288 by Bonvesin de la Riva in his book on the "Marvels of Milan". Wrapped in scarlet cloth and drawn by three yoke of oxen that were caparisoned in the white with the red crosses of Saint George , the city's patron, it carried a crucifix so massive it took four men to put it in place, like

8366-586: Was fixed with the image of the Redeemer painted with open arms facing the surrounding ranks, because whatever the event of the war, looking at that sign, the soldiers comforted it… Two depictions of the carroccio in the Middle Ages reached the 21st-century ichnographically. The first is present in the Montauri Chronicles of Siena, and the second in the Chronicle of Giovanni Villani . The two representations are

8460-420: Was founded, a multi-sports club in Milan, winner of an Italian men's water polo championship, based in the Darsena of Porta Ticinese. In 1919, as part of the complex hydrophobic revision of Milan, the channels of the current Olona route began to be built, which involved the deviation of part of the river's water towards the Lambro Meridionale passing through the outer ring road . However, the branch that led to

8554-613: Was made in the Copper Age and that can be connected to the Remedello culture . It was found during construction work on the Bustese highway 527 in the "Paradiso" quartier of Castellanza. This furniture is also kept in the Museo civico Guido Sutermeister. Further down the valley, archaeological finds belonging to Canegrate culture have been discovered. During the excavations, 165 tombs dating from

8648-451: Was placed in the community church, with the "martinella" which was positioned on the civic tower of the city. The carroccio was the protagonist in the battle of Legnano on 29 May 1176, during which it was defended, according to legend, by the Company of Death led by Alberto da Giussano , a fictional character who actually appeared only in literary works of the following century. According to

8742-421: Was then buried at the end of the 19th century before the river was channeled. The so-called "Brera island", which was located between the present-day Via George Washington and Via Vincenzo Foppa , had a longer life. Originated from another fork in the river, it took its name from the homonymous farmhouse that once stood there. It is still marked in a paper from 1925. In this context, in 1894, Canottieri Olona

8836-436: Was to celebrate Mass on the altar placed on the carroccio. Also this religious figure, together with that of the cleric , was paid by the municipality. The first literary trace of the carroccio appears in the poem by Raimbaut de Vaqueiras , a French troubadour of the 12th century, entitled " Il Carros ", where the man of letters, turning his flattery to Beatrice, daughter of Boniface I, Marquess of Montferrat , states that

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