29 May 1176, the allied municipalities in the Lombard League defeat the imperial army of Frederick I known as Barbarossa in the Battle of Legnano. 848 years later, Legnano is ready to recall that victory with the Palio as it has done since 1932And LegnanoNews has decided to accompany its readers towards the key event on Sunday 29 May with an identikit of the eight districts and a dive into the legends of the district and the victories of the past.
The “identity card” of the eight districts
The roll of honor of the Palio di Legnano
The legends
The Flora
Legend has it that after the battle of 29 May 1176, the women of the village that is now the La Flora district welcomed the fighters, returning from the victory over the army of Emperor Frederick I known as Barbarossa, with a throw of flowers. According to another version, however, every year the goddess Flora appeared in the village at the beginning of spring with a cornucopia full of violets, primroses and daisies to scatter on the grass. One year she arrived in late summer, after having scattered her flowers all over the earth: the goddess only had two brightly colored varieties left, from which blue cornflowers and red poppies bloomed.
Legnarello
According to legend, the colors of the district are inspired by the Spanish ones. It seems that in ancient times the idalgo Don Pedro de Torquemada took refuge behind the Ronchi hills from political battles, where he used to raise the flag in his colors, namely yellow and red. The idalgo was in fact used to dress in a half red and half yellow cape, highly visible to enemies but untouchable even for the best marksmen for divine protection. Having survived many wars, he settled on the mound and left the hoisted flag to his descendants to preserve it for years to come.
Saint Ambrose
Legend has it that an old demon with a sulfur yellow body wrapped in a long and worn dark green cloak appeared in the streets of the Sant’Ambrogio district on February 9th of each year, blowing like a bellows and leaving large traces of his passage on the snow. and then entered the sacristy of the church and took a candelabra which twisted like a snake in his hands before leaving into the night accompanied by the sound of thunder and chains.
Tired of the situation, the parish priest then inserted a rosary crown into the lock of the sacristy, forcing the devil to remove it from there with his fingers to open the door: upon contact with the blessed crown, the devil began to tremble and wriggle, and then deflate as if a balloon, and the following morning the parishioners found his yellow skin, now dry, spread on the green blanket on the snow.
San Bernardino
Various legends hover around the territory of the district of San Bernardino: one speaks of bears that would have crossed the countryside and kidnapped a girl, while another tells of an ancient captain who would have put an innocent young girl to death if the bells had not been set to play alone. In both, the girl’s white dress, stained red with blood from her wounds, dominates.
Saint Dominic
It is said that once upon a time in the district that is now the San Domenico district there were two convents connected to each other by a tunnel where the ghost of a soldier of Barbarossa who died in battle wandered around, disturbing the sleep of the men between the roars and the noise of chains. inhabitants. The father guardian then decided to wait for the ghost outside the tunnel, and there the ghost told him that his bones had mixed with the earth of the narrow passage, indicating the point where they were located. The friar found them, buried them under a flowerbed and placed a green flag with two white crossed bones on the grave, which remained the emblem of the regained peace.
Saint Erasmus
The legend in which the flag of Sant’Erasmo has its roots starts from the raven that every day visited the hermits gathered in prayer at the Hospice of Sant’Erasmo: every morning the bird lurked near the bakers’ shops and when he managed to steal a piece of bread he brought it as a gift to the monks, who saw it as a sign of divine benevolence.
Saint Magnus
It is said that where Piazza San Magno is today there was once a large tree. A farmer working that land one winter morning was staring at him with satisfaction, thinking that it would be nice if men also had the same strength, when the figure of a man “with a hieratic and severe appearance” appeared to him and asked him if he he would have liked to have the strength, courage and power of a lion.
When the farmer answered in the affirmative, the man instructed him to grab the rabbit near the plant, kill it, sprinkle the snow with its blood and then go onto that bloody snow. The farmer obeyed, and as soon as he placed his foot on his blood he transformed into a lion, without being able to return to man as punishment for his pride.
Saint martin
Legend has it that a groom, who was lost in the bush, came across a woodcutter who was collecting wood and asked him which direction to take to return to his king. The woodsman then took a twig from a mulberry plant and used it to point to the sky: the groom raised his eyes and saw a square of clear sky among the trees with a white cross in the center. The woodcutter then pointed to one of the arms of the cross and said: “Go safely to your king and may God protect you with him.” The groom wanted to reward him, but the woodsman wanted nothing in return other than permission to decorate his house and his clothes and those of his people with the cross that appeared in the sky.
