page_title: Legnano
section_title: Industrialisation
hierarchical_section_title: Legnano / History / Industrialisation
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: Lo stabilimento Dell'Acqua a Legnano
context_page_description: Legnano is an Italian town and comune in the north-westernmost part of the Province of Milan, about 20 kilometres from central Milan. With 60,259, it is the thirteenth-most populous township in Lombardy. Legnano is located in the Alto Milanese and is crossed by the Olona river.
  The history of Legnano and its municipal area has been traced back to the 1st millennium BC via archaeological evidence. Already in remote times, in fact, the hills that line the Olona proved to be habitable places. The town was established in 1261.
  Because of the historic victory of the Lombard League over Frederick Barbarossa at Legnano, it is the only town other than Rome named in the Italian national anthem. Every year the people of Legnano commemorate the battle with Palio di Legnano. In the institutional sphere, on 29 May, the date of the battle of Legnano, it was chosen as the regional holiday of Lombardy.
context_section_description: The first documented manufacturing activities date back to the 12th century and are linked to the processing of wool in convents, while the first proto-industrial activities, in the modern sense of the term, arose around 1830, with the opening of the nucleus of Cotonificio Cantoni. The process of industrialization in Legnano lasted from 1820 to 1880. The secular traditions of craftsmanship and home crafting, practiced to integrate work in the fields, played a decisive role in the birth of the industry in Legnano.
  The spinning soured in the first decades of the 19th century then turned into real industries. Some of them grew steadily to become among the main cotton mills in Lombardy. Legnano was ideal for opening up textile industries thanks to the presence of important communication routes and that of the Olona river, which provided the energy necessary to move the hydraulic wheels before the installation of steam engines. By the second half of the 19th century, the timber companies achieved a wider production, thanks in part to the technological improvement that led some industries to have an importance that transcended national borders.
  Among the Legnano's industries, the main, for organization and technology, was the Cotonificio Cantoni, according to an 1876 document kept in the archive of the municipality of Legnano. Among the largest companies operating in Legnano between the 19th and 20th centuries were, in addition to those already mentioned, the Cotonificio Bernocchi, Cotonificio Dell'Acqua, De Angeli-Frua, the Manifattura di Legnano, the mechanical companies Franco Tosi Meccanica, the Mario Pensotti and Andrea Pensotti, the FIAL, who mainly produced cars, and the cycling company Legnano. Some of these industrialists also made contributions to the construction of the hospital and high schools. 
  Between 1885 and 1915, the original agricultural economy of Legnano finally became an industrial system. However, industrial development led to an agricultural crisis in the area, as many farmers abandoned their activities in the fields to work in the factories of Legnano. At the turn of the two centuries there was therefore a strong industrial and commercial development. For this expansion, the infrastructure for the transport of people and goods was very important. Next to the strada statale del Sempione was built the railway station of Legnano along the Domodossola–Milan railway line and, along the latter, the Milan-Gallarate tramway, which connected Legnano to Milan. The Milan-Gallarate tramway was later abolished in the second half of the 20th century.
  During the industrialisation of Legnano there was a large use of child labor. In the early 1980s, the first strikes were organized in the industry, while the first working-class societies were born.
caption: Cotonificio Dell'Acqua in Legnano.
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