Borgomanero
Borgomanero
Borbanee (Lombard) | |
---|---|
Comune di Borgomanero | |
UTC+2 (CEST) | |
Postal code | 28021 |
Dialing code | 0322 |
Website | Official website |
Borgomanero (Piedmontese: Borbané; Lombard: Borbanee) is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Novara in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 110 kilometres (68 mi) northeast of Turin, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) northwest of Novara and about 60 km northwest of Milan.
Borgomanero borders the following municipalities: Bogogno, Briga Novarese, Cressa, Cureggio, Fontaneto d'Agogna, Gargallo, Gattico-Veruno, Gozzano, Invorio, Maggiora.
Borgomanero has a railway station, served by the Santhià–Arona railway and the Novara-Domodossola railway.
History
Legend has it that a group of thirteen people, called the Thirteen Orcs (Trözz 'Orchi in dialect form), returning from a pilgrimage to the shrine on the nearby island of San Giulio (Lake Orta), founded the first nucleus of the city, on the banks of the Agogna. The same legend also tells the origin of Tapulon, the local traditional dish, created with the poor ingredients that the group had at its disposal: the meat of the only donkey who carried their luggage, wine and little else.
The first historical name of Borgomanero is Burgus sancti Leonardi (i.e. Hamlet of Saint Leonard). This name derives from
The toponym Borgomanero is attributed to Jacob Mainerio (Jacobus de Mayneriis), who was mayor of
The village continued to grow in importance and resisted several sieges in the war between Visconti and Paleologi in the 1300s. Borgomanero lost autonomy when the Dukes of Milan granted it in fief first to the Tornielli family (1412-1447) and later to the Trivulzio family (1466-1548).
In 1449, Borgomanero and its surroundings were the locations of the clash between Louis, Duke of Savoy and Francesco I Sforza, which culminated in the Battle of Borgomanero, won by the Lombard troops led by Bartolomeo Colleoni.
Later Borgomanero became a fief of the House of Este for over two hundred years (1552-1757). Curiously, Borgomanero was not touched by the plague of the mid-seventeenth century that raged in Europe, because the only four plague victims were expelled from the city and the order was given to close the gates and to isolate the city until the epidemic had died out. This decision (remarkable for the ignorance at the time on infections) saved the town from the plague.
During the early nineteenth century, Borgomanero lost its last walls and it became a commercially and economically more modern centre.
Borgomanero took an active part in the Italian Risorgimento: the brothers Ercole and Antonio Maioni paid with exile raising the Italian flag in Turin in 1821; Maddalena Zoppis lost an eye during the Five Days of Milan in 1848; Costantino Pagani was one of the volunteers participating in the Expedition of the Thousand led by Giuseppe Garibaldi. Moreover, the city was occupied by the Austrian army in the aftermath of the Battle of Novara (1849).
Twentieth-century figures of note include Mora and Gibin, gold medals of the Italian resistance movement, and Achille Marazza, member of the National High Liberation Committee of Italy, who in 1967 donated the villa and library to the town, now home to the foundation that bears his name.
Main sights
Among the churches in the town are:[4]
- Collegiata di San Bartolomeo, main parish church of the town
- San Leonardo, former parish church, originally built between 1125 and 1150[5]
- Oratory of Santa Caterina
- Santa Trinità
- San Nicola di Baraggiola
Twin towns
References
- ^ "Superficie di Comuni Province e Regioni italiane al 9 ottobre 2011". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
- Istat.
- ^ "Popolazione Residente al 1° Gennaio 2018". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
- ^ Comune of Borgomanero Churches and oratories.
- ^ "La chiesa di San Leonardo a Borgomanero". Parrocchia di Borgomanero. Retrieved 7 November 2020.