Abbiategrasso, formerly written Abbiate Grasso. (local lmo, Biegrass ; lmo, label=

Milanes Milanese (endonym in traditional orthography , ') is the central variety of the Western dialect of the Lombard language spoken in Milan, the rest of its metropolitan city, and the northernmost part of the province of Pavia. Milanese, due to t ...

e, Biaa ), is a ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' and town in the

Metropolitan City of Milan The Metropolitan City of Milan ( it, città metropolitana di Milano; lmo, label=Milanese, cittaa metropolitana de Milan ) is a metropolitan city (not to be confused with the metropolitan area) in the Lombardy region, Italy. It is the second mos ...

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

, northern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, situated in the Po valley approximately from

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

and from

Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the capit ...

History

The town dates from

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

times. Its name indicates that it was part of a territory known as "'the fertile valley": a document of 1304 referring to the ''Habiate qui dicitur Grasso'', a title that gradually transformed into Abbiategrasso. Abbiategrasso received the honorary title of city with a royal decree of 31 March 1932.

Main sights

*The Visconti Castle (Italian: ''Castello Visconteo''), built in 1382 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti above a pre-existing 13th-century fortification. It was enlarged and decorated by

Filippo Maria Visconti Filippo Maria Visconti (3 September 1392 – 13 August 1447)

after 1438. It has a quadrangular plan with angular towers, and the interior has Renaissance frescoes and graffiti. The central court has a portico. *Basilica church of ''Santa Maria Nuova'', built in 1388 to celebrate the birth of Gian Galeazzo Visconti's son. It is preceded by a Renaissance portico and as an unfinished façade (1497), whose pronaos is attributed to

Donato Bramante Donato Bramante ( , , ; 1444 – 11 April 1514), born as Donato di Pascuccio d'Antonio and also known as Bramante Lazzari, was an Italian architect and painter. He introduced Renaissance architecture to Milan and the High Renaissance style ...

. *Baroque church of San Bernardino (17th century) *15th century Casa Albini

Twin towns

Abbiategrasso is twinned with the following towns: *

Ellwangen Ellwangen an der Jagst, officially Ellwangen (Jagst), in common use simply Ellwangen () is a town in the district of Ostalbkreis in the east of Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It is situated about north of Aalen. Ellwangen has 25,000 inhabitants. ...

, Germany *

Langres Langres () is a commune in France, commune in northeastern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Departments of France, department of Haute-Marne, in the Regions of France, region of Grand Est. History As the capital o ...

, France

People

Christian Abbiati Christian Abbiati (born 8 July 1977) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Abbiati, who had been with AC Milan since 1998, started his career with Monza, and later played more than 300 official matches for Mil ...

, footballer *

Franco Moschino Franco Moschino (27 February 1950 – 18 September 1994) was an Italian fashion designer best known as the founder of the Italian fashion house Moschino. Early years He was born in Abbiategrasso, Lombardy, located c. 22 km from Milan. ...

, fashion designer *

Giuseppina Tuissi Giuseppina Tuissi, better known as Gianna (also ''La Staffetta Gianna''; 23 June 1923 – 23 June 1945) was an Italian communist and partisan during World War II. She was part of the 52nd Brigata Garibaldi "Luigi Clerici". From September 1944 ...

, partisan during World War II *

Marco Villa Marco Villa (born February 8, 1969 in Abbiategrasso) is a road bicycle and track cyclist from Italy. He won the bronze medal in the men's Madison at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia alongside Silvio Martinello Silvio Martine ...

, road and track cyclist

References

External links

Official website

Cities and towns in Lombardy {{Milan-geo-stub