Figino is a district ("

quartiere A (; plural: ) is a territorial subdivision of certain Italian towns. The word derives from (‘fourth’) and was thus properly used only for towns divided into four neighborhoods by the two main roads. It has been later used as a synonymous ...

") of

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 ...

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 ...

, part of the Zone 7 administrative division. It is located north-west of the centre, within the

Parco Agricolo Sud Milano Parco Agricolo Sud Milano ("Rural Park South Milan") is a large protected rural area located south and south-east of Milan, Italy. The park was established in 1990 with the purpose of preserving, safeguarding, and enhancing the natural and histor ...

nature reserve. Before being annexed to Milan, in 1869, it was an autonomous ''

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 ...

'', named Figino di Milano.

Overview

The name "Figino" is usually supposed to come from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

word ''figulinum'', meaning "potter". Some sources report etylomogies, i.e., from ''ficus'' or ''ficulinus'' (fig tree) or ''fageus'' (beech). Figino is a peripheral district and has preserved its rural character despite being annexed to Milan. The westernmost part of the district, which borders on

Rho Rho (uppercase Ρ, lowercase ρ or ; el, ρο or el, ρω, label=none) is the 17th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 100. It is derived from Phoenician letter res . Its uppercase form uses the sa ...

, is part of the Parco dei Fontanili, a nature reserve characterized by several water springs ("fontanili").

History

The rural settlement of Figino is reported at least since the

middle ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

; it is reported as a ''

'' in a 1257 document.Comune di Figino, sec. XIII - 1757
(in Italian) When the Milanese territory was partitioned in

pieve In the Middle Ages, a pieve (, ; la, plebe, link=no; plural ''pievi'') was a rural church with a baptistery, upon which other churches without baptisteries depended. The Italian word ''pieve'' is descended from Latin ''plebs'' which, after th ...

s, it was included in the pieve of

Trenno Trenno is a district ("quartiere") of Milan, Italy, part of the Zone 8 administrative division of the city. It borders on green areas to the north and west (on the Boscoincittà city park) and to the south (on the Parco di Trenno); to the east, it ...

, where it remained until well into the 18th century. Under

Napoleonic Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

rule, it was annexed to

Settimo Milanese Settimo Milanese (Milanese: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Milan in the Lombardy region of Italy. It is about west of the city centre of Milan. The industrial district of Castelletto is home to Italtel and STMicroelectroni ...

, but regained its autonomy with the

Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia The Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia ( la, links=no, Regnum Langobardiae et Venetiae), commonly called the "Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom" ( it, links=no, Regno Lombardo-Veneto, german: links=no, Königreich Lombardo-Venetien), was a constituent land ...

.Comune di Figino, 1798-1811
(in Italian) At the

unification of Italy The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century Political movement, political and social movement that resulted in the Merger (politics), consolidation of List of historic stat ...

(1859), the population of Figino was 589; in 1861, at the first

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

, it was 607. In 1862 it was formally named "Figino di Milano".Comune di Figino, 1816-1859
(in Italian) In 1869 Figino ceased to be an autonomous comune, becoming a ''

frazione A ''frazione'' (plural: ) is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' (municipality) in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidate territ ...

'' of Trenno, which in turn was annexed to Milan in 1923.

Footnotes

{{coord, 45, 29, 37, N, 9, 04, 32, E, source:kolossus-itwiki, display=title Districts of Milan Former municipalities of Lombardy